Arthur, Iowa, sits in USDA hardiness zone 5a — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
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 Arthur, 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 Arthur 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 Arthur — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Arthur — the short answer
Arthur, Iowa: USDA zone 5a, about 185 days between hard freezes, across 94 acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 5a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 17
- 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
- ~185
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- City area
- 94 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 5a is Arthur's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Arthur's 185-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Arthur
Each reading below is measured for Arthur itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredArthur runs about 185 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
MeasuredArthur sits in USDA hardiness zone 5a.
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 Arthur is in
Arthur sits in the Western Corn Belt Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Arthur's own centroid rather than borrowed from Ida County.
What Grows in Arthur
Every plant below cleared Arthur's own zone 5a and its 185-day season. Each card opens that plant's Iowa profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Arthur?
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 20; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 17 (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. As the window narrows, the plantings just get faster — fall brassicas, then greens, then garlic to finish.
What's on the federal record near Arthur
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Arthur. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- SIEVERS GARAGEUnderground Storage Tanks · 250 ft
- WUNSCHELS SERVICEUnderground Storage Tanks · 400 ft
- IDA COUNTY SHOPUnderground Storage Tanks · 550 ft
- 087N39W23DABB 1924Arthur 2Nitrate · 600 ft
- ODEBOLT-ARTHUR COMMUNITY SCHOOLSUnderground Storage Tanks · 1000 ft
- 087N39W23ACBD 19840 1967Arthur 4Nitrate · 1000 ft
- 087N39W23ACCA 1956Arthur 3Nitrate · 1100 ft
- 087N39W23ABDD 1923Arthur 1Nitrate · 1100 ft
- NORTHERN NATURAL GAS - ARTHUR TOWN BORDER STATIONBrownfields · 1200 ft
- FLINT HILLS RESOURCES ARTHUR, LLCToxics Release Inventory · 0.5 mi
- FLINT HILLS RESOURCES ARTHUR, LLCBrownfields · 0.5 mi
- SPARKY''S ONE STOP #23Underground Storage Tanks · 1.8 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Arthur'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 Arthur.
Total Sites
145
within ~10 miles of Arthur
Risk Level
Moderate
Highest-severity
5 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Arthur
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Arthur
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Arthur, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 64 sites within ~10 miles of Arthur. That's not a problem with your land — it's information about 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 Arthur
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 Arthur average
Your land is one point inside Arthur
Everything above resolves to Arthur as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 94 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 Arthur Average
Arthur Average
- ●USDA Zones 5a, averaged across Arthur
- ●One soil character for all of Arthur
- ●Frost dates read at Arthur's scale: Apr 17 to Oct 19
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Arthur's 5a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Arthur
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Arthur, Iowa — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Arthur averages can't show:
We read public map data around Arthur — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Arthur average
How we know this about Arthur
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 Arthur’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 Arthur
When does frost risk typically end in Arthur?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Arthur typically lands around Apr 17, 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 8.
When is the first frost in Arthur?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Arthur 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 185 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Arthur?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Arthur sees about 185 frost-free days — roughly Apr 17 through Oct 19, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 8 to Oct 5, about 150 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Arthur?
The federal record around Arthur shows 145 documented sites, mostly Nitrate entries (64), 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 Arthur?
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 Arthur's scale — its 5a band and its 185-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Arthur'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 Arthur’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Arthur's own scale — its own ~185-day season between 28°F freezes, the 94 acres it covers and 145 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Arthur's own USDA hardiness band, zones 5aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Arthur's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 17 and Oct 19 and the ~185-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 145 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Arthur, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Arthur's boundary and the 94 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 5a and a ~185-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Arthur's own centroid, the Western Corn Belt PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Arthur's 94 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Ida County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Ida County
- The growing challenges every Iowa grower plans around — written at state scale, so they stay on the state guidefrom Iowa
- Butterfly and beetle records, and the farmland pesticide estimate — all published county-widefrom Ida County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Arthur's 94 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Arthur you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 94 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 Arthur-wide figureread your own land →
More in Iowa
Wider growing context
What grows across IowaArthur sits outside our named growing regions, so Iowa as a whole is its closest context here.