Rochelle, Illinois, sits in USDA hardiness zone 5b — a band that supports both cool-season staples and warm-season crops chosen to fit the local frost window.
Crops well matched to these conditions include cabbage, cranberry, lavender, and collard greens — though what thrives on any one site still turns on its specific soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Rochelle, no two yards are alike.
A low spot, a south-facing slope, or a stand of trees moves the frost date and sun across a single Rochelle lot. Enter your address and we'll score 1,086 plants against your land's actual soil, sun, and frost.
We read public map data around Rochelle — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Rochelle — the short answer
Rochelle, Illinois: USDA zone 5b, about 191 days between hard freezes, across 9K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 5b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 12
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 20
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~191
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- City area
- 9K acres
- US Census TIGER/Line 2025
Every figure names the dataset it came from. Hard-freeze dates are this town’s own 28°F normals: light frosts run a few weeks past them, and tender transplants usually wait 2–3 weeks after the last hard freeze.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 5b is Rochelle's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Rochelle's 191-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Rochelle
Each reading below is measured for Rochelle itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredRochelle runs about 191 days between hard freezes — a moderate growing season.
There is room for the full run of cool-season crops plus a warm-season main crop, but the calendar is tight enough that a late spring or early fall frost still decides how much finishes.
Time warm-season transplants to your last hard freeze, and a few weeks of season extension turns a near-miss harvest into a sure one.
NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Winter hardiness
MeasuredRochelle sits in USDA hardiness zone 5b.
The zone sets which perennials, shrubs, and fruit trees live through an average winter here — a plant rated for a colder zone is a safe bet, one rated warmer needs winter protection or gets treated as an annual.
Match perennials and fruit to the zone before you buy, so nothing you plant is a gamble against the cold.
USDA PHZM 2023
The kind of country Rochelle is in
Rochelle sits in the Central Corn Belt Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Rochelle's own centroid rather than borrowed from Ogle County.
What Grows in Rochelle
Every plant below cleared Rochelle's own zone 5b and its 191-day season. Each card opens that plant's Illinois profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Rochelle?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 15; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 12 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 20 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. Even past midsummer there is room for a true fall garden here, and garlic planted near the close carries the momentum into next year.
What's on the federal record near Rochelle
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Rochelle. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- ROCHELLE LANDFILLBrownfields · 150 ft
- Quest Excavating IncUnderground Storage Tanks · 150 ft
- City of Rochelle Public WorksUnderground Storage Tanks · 200 ft
- Burlington Northern RailroadUnderground Storage Tanks · 500 ft
- Conserv FRSUnderground Storage Tanks · 800 ft
- Dr Gilbert & Sons IncUnderground Storage Tanks · 1000 ft
- Rochelle Truck CenterUnderground Storage Tanks · 1100 ft
- Domino PizzaUnderground Storage Tanks · 1200 ft
- Burch & Carmichael IncUnderground Storage Tanks · 1200 ft
- Caron International IncUnderground Storage Tanks · 1200 ft
- CARON INTLToxics Release Inventory · 1200 ft
- Rochelle Bulk PlantUnderground Storage Tanks · 1400 ft
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Rochelle's center, not your beds. Run your own address for what's upwind of you specifically.
Environmental Intelligence
The counts behind that headline — every source type on the record near Rochelle.
Total Sites
183
within ~10 miles of Rochelle
Risk Level
Moderate
Highest-severity
15 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Rochelle
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Rochelle
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Rochelle, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Rochelle — CAFO (4 sites) and Toxics Release Inventory (15 sites). Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
CAFO: CAFOs pose a different contamination profile than chemical sources.
Toxics Release Inventory: TRI facilities report annual chemical releases to air, water, and land.
Wash all produce consumed raw thoroughly, especially leafy greens grown near CAFOs.
Check prevailing wind direction — downwind parcels face higher exposure than upwind or crosswind locations.
Check your specific parcel in Rochelle
Get exact proximity distances to contamination sources for your specific parcel — plus soil, sun, drainage, and 1,086 plant recommendations.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Rochelle average
Your land is one point inside Rochelle
Everything above resolves to Rochelle as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 9K acres. Your parcel is one point inside that footprint. Slope, tree cover, a low spot that pools cold air, and what is in the soil are all resolved at the address, and none of them are visible at city scale. That is the honest boundary of this page, and the reason the next step is a reading of your own ground rather than a better local average.
Your Lot vs the Rochelle Average
Rochelle Average
- ●USDA Zones 5b, averaged across Rochelle
- ●One soil character for all of Rochelle
- ●Frost dates read at Rochelle's scale: Apr 12 to Oct 20
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Rochelle's 5b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Rochelle
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Rochelle, Illinois — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Rochelle averages can't show:
We read public map data around Rochelle — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Rochelle average
How we know this about Rochelle
The datasets: hardiness from the USDA ARS Plant Hardiness Zone Map 2023, read at this city’s own centroid; hard-freeze dates from NOAA 1991–2020 28°F normals at Rochelle’s own record; boundaries and acreage from US Census TIGER/Line 2025; the contamination records from the federal sources named in their beats above. Soil is not read at city grain anywhere on this page — there is no city-resolution survey in our data, which is why you will find no soil grid here rather than a statewide one wearing a local label. The resolution ledger below names every figure this page inherited.
Common questions about Rochelle
When does frost risk typically end in Rochelle?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Rochelle typically lands around Apr 12, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — earlier than the light-frost dates most charts quote. That marks the hard freeze, not the last light frost — lighter frosts keep biting past it, which is why tender transplants here wait until about May 3.
When is the first frost in Rochelle?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Rochelle typically arrives around Oct 20, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 6, so the watching starts about Sep 20 — about 191 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Rochelle?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Rochelle sees about 191 frost-free days — roughly Apr 12 through Oct 20, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 3 to Oct 6, about 156 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Rochelle?
The federal record around Rochelle shows 183 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (109), the nearest Brownfields record under a tenth of a mile out — a typical footprint for a growing area, and proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard. It's worth seeing which recorded sites sit closest to where you grow, and testing the soil before new food beds near any of them.
How do I protect my plants from frost in Rochelle?
From about Sep 20 the job here turns from planting to protecting — the last start even a 30-day crop can finish. As the season closes around the first 28°F hard freeze near Oct 20 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals), three moves buy time: row cover or an old sheet over tender plants on still, clear nights; water the soil the afternoon before a freeze, so it holds warmth overnight; and harvest tomatoes, peppers and basil before Oct 20. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Rochelle's scale — its 5b band and its 191-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Rochelle's numbers: we read soil, sun, drainage and frost at your exact address. Try it for 14 days — no card required.
What this page reads at Rochelle’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Rochelle's own scale — its own ~191-day season between 28°F freezes, the 8,806 acres it covers and 183 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Rochelle's own USDA hardiness band, zones 5bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Rochelle's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 12 and Oct 20 and the ~191-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 183 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Rochelle, the closest Brownfields record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Rochelle's boundary and the 8,806 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 5b and a ~191-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Rochelle's own centroid, the Central Corn Belt PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Rochelle's 8,806 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Ogle County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Ogle County
- The growing challenges every Illinois grower plans around — written at state scale, so they stay on the state guidefrom Illinois
- Butterfly and beetle records, and the farmland pesticide estimate — all published county-widefrom Ogle County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Rochelle's 8,806 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Rochelle you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 8,806 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Brownfields record under a tenth of a mile out, measured from the town centrehow we read the record →
- Where cold air settles, which slopes face the sun, and which way the wind runs on your own ground — measured at your address, and averaged away by any Rochelle-wide figureread your own land →
More in Illinois
Wider growing context
What grows across IllinoisRochelle sits outside our named growing regions, so Illinois as a whole is its closest context here.