Bronson, Iowa, sits in USDA hardiness zone 5a — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
Among the crops suited to this profile: cabbage, cranberry, lavender, and collard greens. The site-level story — soil, sun, drainage — decides the rest.
Even in Bronson, 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 Bronson 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 Bronson — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Bronson — the short answer
Bronson, Iowa: USDA zone 5a, about 180 days between hard freezes, across 221 acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 5a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 19
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 16
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~180
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- City area
- 221 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 Bronson's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Bronson's 180-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Bronson
Each reading below is measured for Bronson itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredBronson runs about 180 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
MeasuredBronson 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 Bronson is in
Bronson sits in the Western Corn Belt Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Bronson's own centroid rather than borrowed from Woodbury County.
What Grows in Bronson
Every plant below cleared Bronson's own zone 5a and its 180-day season. Each card opens that plant's Iowa profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Bronson?
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 22; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 19 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 16 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. Late in the year the fall bench takes over — quick greens, radishes, and garlic that repays you next summer.
What's on the federal record near Bronson
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Bronson. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- 088N46W28BCBA 22795 1971Bronson 1Nitrate · 900 ft
- LAWTON-BRONSON COMMUNITY SCHOOLUnderground Storage Tanks · 1200 ft
- PRONTO MARKETUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.8 mi
- WOODBURY COUNTY HIGHWAY DEPTUnderground Storage Tanks · 5.0 mi
- LAWTON-BRONSON HIGH SCHOOLBrownfields · 5.0 mi
- ZENOR SERVICEUnderground Storage Tanks · 5.1 mi
- DIETER'S GERMAN AUTO REPAIR & PARTS INCBrownfields · 5.1 mi
- 089N46W36BBDC 25591 1979IGS CRET Proj D-30Nitrate · 5.4 mi
- 089N46W36BBDC 25591 1979IGS CRET Proj D-30 (Deep)Nitrate · 5.4 mi
- FABRICATORS INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 5.5 mi
- WHISKEY CREEK FARMSBrownfields · 5.5 mi
- SCHAEFF NAMCO INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 6.6 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Bronson'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 Bronson.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Bronson
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Bronson
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Bronson, Toxics Release Inventory runs higher than the national average — 25 sites within ~10 miles of Bronson. That's not a problem with your land — it's information about it.
Toxics Release Inventory: TRI facilities report annual chemical releases to air, water, and land.
Check prevailing wind direction — downwind parcels face higher exposure than upwind or crosswind locations.
Check your specific parcel in Bronson
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 Bronson average
Your land is one point inside Bronson
Everything above resolves to Bronson as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 221 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 Bronson Average
Bronson Average
- ●USDA Zones 5a, averaged across Bronson
- ●One soil character for all of Bronson
- ●Frost dates read at Bronson's scale: Apr 19 to Oct 16
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Bronson's 5a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Bronson
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Bronson, Iowa — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Bronson averages can't show:
We read public map data around Bronson — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Bronson average
How we know this about Bronson
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 Bronson’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 Bronson
When does frost risk typically end in Bronson?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Bronson typically lands around Apr 19, 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 10.
When is the first frost in Bronson?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Bronson typically arrives around Oct 16, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 2, so the watching starts about Sep 16 — about 180 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Bronson?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Bronson sees about 180 frost-free days — roughly Apr 19 through Oct 16, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 10 to Oct 2, about 145 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Bronson?
The federal record around Bronson is a meaningful one — 269 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (121), the nearest Nitrate record about 0.2 miles 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 Bronson?
From about Sep 16 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 16 (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 16. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Bronson's scale — its 5a band and its 180-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Bronson'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 Bronson’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Bronson's own scale — its own ~180-day season between 28°F freezes, the 221 acres it covers and 269 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Bronson's own USDA hardiness band, zones 5aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Bronson's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 19 and Oct 16 and the ~180-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 269 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Bronson, the closest Nitrate record about 0.2 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Bronson's boundary and the 221 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 5a and a ~180-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Bronson'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 Bronson's 221 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Woodbury County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Woodbury 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 Woodbury County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Bronson's 221 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Bronson you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 221 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Nitrate record about 0.2 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 Bronson-wide figureread your own land →
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