Roodhouse, Illinois, sits in USDA hardiness zone 6a — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
A short list that earns its place here — cabbage, hazelnut, lavender, and collard greens — with any one site's soil, sun, and drainage making the final cut.
Even in Roodhouse, 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 Roodhouse 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 Roodhouse — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Roodhouse — the short answer
Roodhouse, Illinois: USDA zone 6a, about 215 days between hard freezes, across 721 acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 6a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Mar 31
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 1
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~215
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- City area
- 721 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 6a is Roodhouse's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Roodhouse's 215-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Roodhouse
Each reading below is measured for Roodhouse itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredRoodhouse runs about 215 days between hard freezes — a long growing season.
There is slack for succession plantings and slow-finishing crops: many vegetables can be sown twice, and the heat-lovers have time to ripen fully.
Plan a second sowing of quick crops after the first comes out, and use the fall window most gardeners let sit idle.
NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Winter hardiness
MeasuredRoodhouse sits in USDA hardiness zone 6a.
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 Roodhouse is in
Roodhouse sits in the Interior River Valleys and Hills — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Roodhouse's own centroid rather than borrowed from Greene County.
What Grows in Roodhouse
Every plant below cleared Roodhouse's own zone 6a and its 215-day season. Each card opens that plant's Illinois profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Roodhouse?
For most of the year, no — what changes is which crops still fit the days remaining. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 3; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Mar 31 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 1 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. Here the season winds down slowly: late sowings, a real autumn harvest, and garlic in the ground before the first hard freeze.
What's on the federal record near Roodhouse
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Roodhouse. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- Mccartney StandardUnderground Storage Tanks · 300 ft
- T-MartUnderground Storage Tanks · 400 ft
- WARECO SERV STA #554Brownfields · 700 ft
- City Of Roodhouse Water WorksUnderground Storage Tanks · 950 ft
- Vantuyle Estate Of Henry OUnderground Storage Tanks · 950 ft
- Reco WarehouseUnderground Storage Tanks · 950 ft
- Roodhouse Envelope CoUnderground Storage Tanks · 1400 ft
- Caseys General Stores IncUnderground Storage Tanks · 1800 ft
- Roodhouse Township GarageUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- KERR-MCGEE REFINING CORPBrownfields · 3.0 mi
- Lm 121 7800Underground Storage Tanks · 3.0 mi
- North Greene Bus GarageUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.1 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Roodhouse'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 Roodhouse.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Roodhouse
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Roodhouse
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Roodhouse, Underground Storage Tanks runs higher than the national average — 37 sites within ~10 miles of Roodhouse. Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
Underground Storage Tanks: Underground storage tanks are the single most common source of soil contamination near homes and gardens.
Use raised beds with imported soil — this eliminates the primary soil-contact pathway.
Check your specific parcel in Roodhouse
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 Roodhouse average
Your land is one point inside Roodhouse
Everything above resolves to Roodhouse as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 721 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 Roodhouse Average
Roodhouse Average
- ●USDA Zones 6a, averaged across Roodhouse
- ●One soil character for all of Roodhouse
- ●Frost dates read at Roodhouse's scale: Mar 31 to Nov 1
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Roodhouse's 6a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Roodhouse
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Roodhouse, Illinois — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Roodhouse averages can't show:
We read public map data around Roodhouse — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Roodhouse average
How we know this about Roodhouse
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 Roodhouse’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 Roodhouse
When does frost risk typically end in Roodhouse?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Roodhouse typically lands around Mar 31, 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 Apr 21.
When is the first frost in Roodhouse?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Roodhouse typically arrives around Nov 1, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 18, so the watching starts about Oct 2 — about 215 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Roodhouse?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Roodhouse sees about 215 frost-free days — roughly Mar 31 through Nov 1, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Apr 21 to Oct 18, about 180 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Roodhouse?
The federal record around Roodhouse is light — 48 documented sites across the 9 federal source types we checked, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (37), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out — and proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard. Growing food here starts from a strong position; a soil test before new food beds settles any site-specific question.
How do I protect my plants from frost in Roodhouse?
From about Oct 2 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 Nov 1 (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 Nov 1. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Roodhouse's scale — its 6a band and its 215-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Roodhouse'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 Roodhouse’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Roodhouse's own scale — its own ~215-day season between 28°F freezes, the 721 acres it covers and 48 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Roodhouse's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Roodhouse's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Mar 31 and Nov 1 and the ~215-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 48 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Roodhouse, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Roodhouse's boundary and the 721 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6a and a ~215-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Roodhouse's own centroid, the Interior River Valleys and HillsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Roodhouse's 721 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Greene County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Greene 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 Greene County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Roodhouse's 721 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Roodhouse you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 721 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks 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 Roodhouse-wide figureread your own land →
More in Illinois
Wider growing context
What grows across IllinoisRoodhouse sits outside our named growing regions, so Illinois as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides