Sublette, Illinois, sits in USDA hardiness zone 5b — room for a real mix of vegetables, fruit, and perennials matched to the local frost calendar.
A short list that earns its place here — cabbage, cranberry, lavender, and collard greens — with any one site's soil, sun, and drainage making the final cut.
Even in Sublette, 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 Sublette 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 Sublette — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Sublette — the short answer
Sublette, Illinois: USDA zone 5b, about 191 days between hard freezes, across 256 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 5b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 13
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 21
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~191
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 256 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 Sublette's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Sublette's 191-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Sublette
Each reading below is measured for Sublette itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredSublette 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
MeasuredSublette 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 Sublette is in
Sublette sits in the Central Corn Belt Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Sublette's own centroid rather than borrowed from Lee County.
What Grows in Sublette
Every plant below cleared Sublette'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 Sublette?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 16; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 13 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 21 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. As the window narrows, the plantings just get faster — fall brassicas, then greens, then garlic to finish.
What's on the federal record near Sublette
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Sublette. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- Sublette Farmers Elevator CompanUnderground Storage Tanks · 150 ft
- Vo Bonnell & Sons IncUnderground Storage Tanks · 450 ft
- Shaws Microwave SiteUnderground Storage Tanks · 750 ft
- Sublette Township OfUnderground Storage Tanks · 850 ft
- Windmill AcresUnderground Storage Tanks · 2300 ft
- Vaessen Brothers Chevrolet IncUnderground Storage Tanks · 2300 ft
- At&T CommunicationsUnderground Storage Tanks · 2300 ft
- Expresslane #80Underground Storage Tanks · 2300 ft
- WOODHAVEN, ILPFAS · 2.2 mi
- Woodhaven Lakes DevelopmentUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.9 mi
- Woody's True ValueUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.9 mi
- Woodhaven AssociationUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.9 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Sublette'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 Sublette.
Total Sites
145
within ~10 miles of Sublette
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
1 Superfund site (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Sublette
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Sublette
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Sublette, Underground Storage Tanks runs higher than the national average — 98 sites within ~10 miles of Sublette. 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 Sublette
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 Sublette average
Your land is one point inside Sublette
Everything above resolves to Sublette as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 256 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 town 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 Sublette Average
Sublette Average
- ●USDA Zones 5b, averaged across Sublette
- ●One soil character for all of Sublette
- ●Frost dates read at Sublette's scale: Apr 13 to Oct 21
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Sublette's 5b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Sublette
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Sublette, Illinois — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Sublette averages can't show:
We read public map data around Sublette — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Sublette average
How we know this about Sublette
The datasets: hardiness from the USDA ARS Plant Hardiness Zone Map 2023, read at this town’s own centroid; hard-freeze dates from NOAA 1991–2020 28°F normals at Sublette’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 town grain anywhere on this page — there is no town-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 Sublette
When does frost risk typically end in Sublette?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Sublette typically lands around Apr 13, 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 4.
When is the first frost in Sublette?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Sublette typically arrives around Oct 21, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 7, so the watching starts about Sep 21 — about 191 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Sublette?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Sublette sees about 191 frost-free days — roughly Apr 13 through Oct 21, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 4 to Oct 7, about 156 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Sublette?
The federal record around Sublette is a meaningful one — 145 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (98), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out — so a soil test before new food beds is a sensible precaution here, not a reason to hold back from growing. Remember that proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard; the contamination map shows exactly what sits where.
How do I protect my plants from frost in Sublette?
From about Sep 21 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 21 (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 21. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Sublette's scale — its 5b band and its 191-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Sublette'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 Sublette’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Sublette's own scale — its own ~191-day season between 28°F freezes, the 256 acres it covers and 145 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Sublette's own USDA hardiness band, zones 5bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Sublette's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 13 and Oct 21 and the ~191-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 145 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Sublette, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Sublette's boundary and the 256 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 Sublette'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 Sublette's 256 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Lee County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Lee 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 Lee County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Sublette's 256 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Sublette you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 256 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 Sublette-wide figureread your own land →
More in Illinois
Wider growing context
What grows across IllinoisSublette sits outside our named growing regions, so Illinois as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides