Francesville, Indiana, sits in USDA hardiness zone 5b — enough range to grow cool-season vegetables, hardy fruit, and warm-season crops that mature before the first hard frost.
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 Francesville, 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 Francesville 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 Francesville — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Francesville — the short answer
Francesville, Indiana: USDA zone 5b, about 197 days between hard freezes, across 195 acres of town.
- 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 26
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~197
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 195 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 Francesville's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Francesville's 197-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Francesville
Each reading below is measured for Francesville itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredFrancesville runs about 197 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
MeasuredFrancesville 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 Francesville is in
Francesville sits in the Central Corn Belt Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Francesville's own centroid rather than borrowed from Pulaski County.
What Grows in Francesville
Every plant below cleared Francesville's own zone 5b and its 197-day season. Each card opens that plant's Indiana profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Francesville?
Too late for some crops, right on time for others — a growing season is a sequence, not a deadline. 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 26 — 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.
Documented around Francesville
Survey cells within 31 miles of Francesville checked for spotted lanternfly, none carrying a detection — a surveyed negative, not an absence of looking. Nearest documented record 33 miles off. What to watch for.
What's on the federal record near Francesville
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Francesville. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- GUTWEIN BULLDOZINGUnderground Storage Tanks · 50 ft
- DARRELL E ALLENUnderground Storage Tanks · 50 ft
- W & W FARMS INCORPORATEDUnderground Storage Tanks · 50 ft
- KNAPP TIRE COMPANY INCORPORATEDUnderground Storage Tanks · 500 ft
- FRANCESVILLE ELEVATORUnderground Storage Tanks · 600 ft
- P & M CHEVROLETUnderground Storage Tanks · 650 ft
- STILLER SALES & SERVICEUnderground Storage Tanks · 850 ft
- Monticello Farm Service IncorporatedUnderground Storage Tanks · 1200 ft
- MICHAEL L GUTWEINUnderground Storage Tanks · 1300 ft
- GUTWEIN MILLING COMPANYUnderground Storage Tanks · 1400 ft
- AJ WENDT & SON INCORPORATEDUnderground Storage Tanks · 2100 ft
- Family ExpressUnderground Storage Tanks · 2100 ft
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Francesville'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 Francesville.
Total Sites
78
within ~10 miles of Francesville
Risk Level
Moderate
Highest-severity
4 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Francesville
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Francesville
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Francesville, Underground Storage Tanks runs higher than the national average — 59 sites within ~10 miles of Francesville. That's not a problem with your land — it's information about it.
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 Francesville
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 Francesville average
Your land is one point inside Francesville
Everything above resolves to Francesville as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 195 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 Francesville Average
Francesville Average
- ●USDA Zones 5b, averaged across Francesville
- ●One soil character for all of Francesville
- ●Frost dates read at Francesville's scale: Apr 12 to Oct 26
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Francesville's 5b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Francesville
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Francesville, Indiana — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Francesville averages can't show:
We read public map data around Francesville — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Francesville average
How we know this about Francesville
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 Francesville’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 Francesville
When does frost risk typically end in Francesville?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Francesville 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 Francesville?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Francesville typically arrives around Oct 26, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 12, so the watching starts about Sep 26 — about 197 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Francesville?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Francesville sees about 197 frost-free days — roughly Apr 12 through Oct 26, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 3 to Oct 12, about 162 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Francesville?
The federal record around Francesville shows 78 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (59), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks 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 Francesville?
From about Sep 26 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 26 (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 26. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Francesville's scale — its 5b band and its 197-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Francesville'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 Francesville’s own scale
7 of the readings below were taken at Francesville's own scale — its own ~197-day season between 28°F freezes, the 195 acres it covers and 78 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Francesville's own USDA hardiness band, zones 5bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Francesville's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 12 and Oct 26 and the ~197-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 78 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Francesville, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Francesville's boundary and the 195 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 5b and a ~197-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Francesville's own centroid, the Central Corn Belt PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- Lanternfly survey cells around Francesville checked, none carrying a detectionlydemapr (De Bona & Helmus), 10 km survey lattice
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Francesville's 195 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Pulaski County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Pulaski County
- The growing challenges every Indiana grower plans around — written at state scale, so they stay on the state guidefrom Indiana
- Butterfly and beetle records, and the farmland pesticide estimate — all published county-widefrom Pulaski County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Francesville's 195 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Francesville you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 195 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 Francesville-wide figureread your own land →
More in Indiana
Wider growing context
What grows across IndianaFrancesville sits outside our named growing regions, so Indiana as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides