Donahue, Iowa, sits in USDA hardiness zone 5b — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
Expect cabbage, cranberry, lavender, and collard greens to be strong candidates here; the deciding factors on any one parcel stay local — soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Donahue, 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 Donahue 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 Donahue — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Donahue — the short answer
Donahue, Iowa: USDA zone 5b, about 197 days between hard freezes, across 227 acres of city.
- 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 24
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~197
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- City area
- 227 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 Donahue's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Donahue's 197-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Donahue
Each reading below is measured for Donahue itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredDonahue 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
MeasuredDonahue 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 Donahue is in
Donahue sits in the Western Corn Belt Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Donahue's own centroid rather than borrowed from Scott County.
What Grows in Donahue
Every plant below cleared Donahue's own zone 5b and its 197-day season. Each card opens that plant's Iowa profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Donahue?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. 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 24 — 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 Donahue
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Donahue. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- SCOTT CO SECONDARY ROADSUnderground Storage Tanks · 1000 ft
- KEPPYS STOREUnderground Storage Tanks · 1100 ft
- 080N02E36ACC 10638 1959Donahue 1Nitrate · 1200 ft
- H & J GARAGEUnderground Storage Tanks · 1700 ft
- KRAFT HEINZ - DAVENPORTToxics Release Inventory · 4.0 mi
- KELLER DIESEL & MACHINERY REPAIRUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.2 mi
- DIERCKS TRUCKING & EXCUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.7 mi
- SCOTT CO PARKUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.7 mi
- 080N03E35BBA 1946Nitrate · 4.7 mi
- TWIGGS STANDARDUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.8 mi
- 080N03E35BAB 14529 1963Long Grove 1Nitrate · 4.8 mi
- 079N02E06ADCNitrate · 4.9 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Donahue'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 Donahue.
Total Sites
252
within ~10 miles of Donahue
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
20 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Donahue
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Donahue
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Donahue, Toxics Release Inventory runs higher than the national average — 20 sites within ~10 miles of Donahue. It's not cause for alarm — it's worth knowing, and there's a sensible way to grow around 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 Donahue
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 Donahue average
Your land is one point inside Donahue
Everything above resolves to Donahue as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 227 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 Donahue Average
Donahue Average
- ●USDA Zones 5b, averaged across Donahue
- ●One soil character for all of Donahue
- ●Frost dates read at Donahue's scale: Apr 10 to Oct 24
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Donahue's 5b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Donahue
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Donahue, Iowa — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Donahue averages can't show:
We read public map data around Donahue — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Donahue average
How we know this about Donahue
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 Donahue’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 Donahue
When does frost risk typically end in Donahue?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Donahue 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 Donahue?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Donahue typically arrives around Oct 24, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 10, so the watching starts about Sep 24 — about 197 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Donahue?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Donahue sees about 197 frost-free days — roughly Apr 10 through Oct 24, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 1 to Oct 10, about 162 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Donahue?
The federal record around Donahue is a meaningful one — 252 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (140), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks 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 Donahue?
From about Sep 24 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 24 (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 24. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Donahue's scale — its 5b band and its 197-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Donahue'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 Donahue’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Donahue's own scale — its own ~197-day season between 28°F freezes, the 227 acres it covers and 252 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Donahue's own USDA hardiness band, zones 5bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Donahue's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 10 and Oct 24 and the ~197-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 252 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Donahue, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Donahue's boundary and the 227 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 Donahue'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 Donahue's 227 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Scott County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Scott 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 Scott County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Donahue's 227 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Donahue you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 227 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks 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 Donahue-wide figureread your own land →
More in Iowa
Wider growing context
What grows across IowaDonahue sits outside our named growing regions, so Iowa as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides