Washburn, Illinois, sits in USDA hardiness zone 5b — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
Reliable performers under these conditions include cabbage, cranberry, lavender, and collard greens; what your own ground favors still comes down to its soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Washburn, 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 Washburn 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 Washburn — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Washburn — the short answer
Washburn, Illinois: USDA zone 5b, about 204 days between hard freezes, across 462 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 5b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 10
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 31
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~204
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 462 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 Washburn's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Washburn's 204-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Washburn
Each reading below is measured for Washburn itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredWashburn runs about 204 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
MeasuredWashburn 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 Washburn is in
Washburn sits in the Central Corn Belt Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Washburn's own centroid rather than borrowed from Woodford County.
What Grows in Washburn
Every plant below cleared Washburn's own zone 5b and its 204-day season. Each card opens that plant's Illinois profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Washburn?
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 13; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 10 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 31 — 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 Washburn
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Washburn. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- White Norman KUnderground Storage Tanks · 700 ft
- Richland Township OfUnderground Storage Tanks · 700 ft
- Village of WashburnUnderground Storage Tanks · 700 ft
- BOBS AUTOBODYBrownfields · 800 ft
- Casey's General Store #1852Underground Storage Tanks · 1000 ft
- Washburn Lawn & Garden CenterUnderground Storage Tanks · 1100 ft
- White Top StandardUnderground Storage Tanks · 1400 ft
- SchumachersUnderground Storage Tanks · 1400 ft
- Ulrich Motor CoUnderground Storage Tanks · 1700 ft
- COUNTYLINE TOOLBrownfields · 2600 ft
- Lowpoint-Washburn S D 21Underground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- Former Strong Oil #4Underground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Washburn'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 Washburn.
Total Sites
114
within ~10 miles of Washburn
Risk Level
Moderate
Highest-severity
5 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Washburn
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Washburn
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Washburn, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Washburn — CAFO (3 sites) and Underground Storage Tanks (79 sites). That's not a problem with your land — it's information about it.
CAFO: CAFOs pose a different contamination profile than chemical sources.
Underground Storage Tanks: Underground storage tanks are the single most common source of soil contamination near homes and gardens.
Wash all produce consumed raw thoroughly, especially leafy greens grown near CAFOs.
Use raised beds with imported soil — this eliminates the primary soil-contact pathway.
Check your specific parcel in Washburn
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 Washburn average
Your land is one point inside Washburn
Everything above resolves to Washburn as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 462 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 Washburn Average
Washburn Average
- ●USDA Zones 5b, averaged across Washburn
- ●One soil character for all of Washburn
- ●Frost dates read at Washburn's scale: Apr 10 to Oct 31
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Washburn's 5b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Washburn
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Washburn, Illinois — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Washburn averages can't show:
We read public map data around Washburn — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Washburn average
How we know this about Washburn
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 Washburn’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 Washburn
When does frost risk typically end in Washburn?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Washburn typically lands around Apr 10, 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 1.
When is the first frost in Washburn?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Washburn typically arrives around Oct 31, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 17, so the watching starts about Oct 1 — about 204 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Washburn?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Washburn sees about 204 frost-free days — roughly Apr 10 through Oct 31, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 1 to Oct 17, about 169 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Washburn?
The federal record around Washburn shows 114 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (79), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.1 miles 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 Washburn?
From about Oct 1 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 31 (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 31. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Washburn's scale — its 5b band and its 204-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Washburn'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 Washburn’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Washburn's own scale — its own ~204-day season between 28°F freezes, the 462 acres it covers and 114 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Washburn's own USDA hardiness band, zones 5bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Washburn's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 10 and Oct 31 and the ~204-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 114 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Washburn, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.1 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Washburn's boundary and the 462 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 5b and a ~204-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Washburn'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 Washburn's 462 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Woodford County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Woodford 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 Woodford County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Washburn's 462 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Washburn you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 462 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.1 miles 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 Washburn-wide figureread your own land →
More in Illinois
Wider growing context
What grows across IllinoisWashburn sits outside our named growing regions, so Illinois as a whole is its closest context here.