Russellville, Indiana, sits in USDA hardiness zone 5b — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
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 Russellville, 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 Russellville 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 Russellville — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Russellville — the short answer
Russellville, Indiana: USDA zone 5b, about 192 days between hard freezes, across 129 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 19
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~192
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 129 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 Russellville's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Russellville's 192-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Russellville
Each reading below is measured for Russellville itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredRussellville runs about 192 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
MeasuredRussellville 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 Russellville is in
Russellville sits in the Eastern Corn Belt Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Russellville's own centroid rather than borrowed from Putnam County.
What Grows in Russellville
Every plant below cleared Russellville's own zone 5b and its 192-day season. Each card opens that plant's Indiana profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Russellville?
Rarely: the season closes in stages, not all at once, and each stage has its crops. 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 19 — 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.
Documented around Russellville
Survey cells within 31 miles of Russellville checked for spotted lanternfly, none carrying a detection — a surveyed negative, not an absence of looking. Nearest documented record 68 miles off. What to watch for.
What's on the federal record near Russellville
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Russellville. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- Rons 66 ServiceUnderground Storage Tanks · 150 ft
- 27 UNITED OIL SERVICEUnderground Storage Tanks · 650 ft
- Co Alliance LLP Russellville AgronomyUnderground Storage Tanks · 900 ft
- WC-1 RUSSELLVILLE, IND.Nitrate · 1500 ft
- METAL FORMING INDUSTRIES INCOBrownfields · 2400 ft
- METAL FORMING INDUSTRIES INCToxics Release Inventory · 2400 ft
- THE KENTUCKY STONE COMPANYUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.2 mi
- WELL MONT4 CR1050S NR BROWNS VALLEY, INNitrate · 2.1 mi
- HAZLETT ENTERPRISES INCBrownfields · 2.4 mi
- HERITAGE ENVIRONMENTAL SERVICES INCBrownfields · 3.1 mi
- WELL MONT3 CR1050S NR WAVELAND, INNitrate · 3.1 mi
- WRIGHTS GARAGEUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.3 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Russellville'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 Russellville.
Total Sites
64
within ~10 miles of Russellville
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
1 Superfund site (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Russellville
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Russellville
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Russellville, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 18 sites within ~10 miles of Russellville. It's not cause for alarm — it's worth knowing, and there's a sensible way to grow around it.
Nitrate: Nitrate contamination primarily comes from agricultural fertilizer runoff and failing septic systems.
Test well water for nitrate if you rely on a private well for irrigation (EPA standard: 10 mg/L).
Check your specific parcel in Russellville
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 Russellville average
Your land is one point inside Russellville
Everything above resolves to Russellville as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 129 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 Russellville Average
Russellville Average
- ●USDA Zones 5b, averaged across Russellville
- ●One soil character for all of Russellville
- ●Frost dates read at Russellville's scale: Apr 10 to Oct 19
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Russellville's 5b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Russellville
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Russellville, Indiana — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Russellville averages can't show:
We read public map data around Russellville — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Russellville average
How we know this about Russellville
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 Russellville’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 Russellville
When does frost risk typically end in Russellville?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Russellville 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 Russellville?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Russellville typically arrives around Oct 19, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 5, so the watching starts about Sep 19 — about 192 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Russellville?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Russellville sees about 192 frost-free days — roughly Apr 10 through Oct 19, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 1 to Oct 5, about 157 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Russellville?
The federal record around Russellville is a meaningful one — 64 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (37), 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 Russellville?
From about Sep 19 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 19 (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 19. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Russellville's scale — its 5b band and its 192-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Russellville'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 Russellville’s own scale
7 of the readings below were taken at Russellville's own scale — its own ~192-day season between 28°F freezes, the 129 acres it covers and 64 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Russellville's own USDA hardiness band, zones 5bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Russellville's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 10 and Oct 19 and the ~192-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 64 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Russellville, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Russellville's boundary and the 129 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 5b and a ~192-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Russellville's own centroid, the Eastern Corn Belt PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- Lanternfly survey cells around Russellville 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 Russellville's 129 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Putnam County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Putnam 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 Putnam County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Russellville's 129 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Russellville you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 129 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 Russellville-wide figureread your own land →
More in Indiana
Wider growing context
What grows across IndianaRussellville sits outside our named growing regions, so Indiana as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides