Eldora, Iowa, sits in USDA hardiness zone 5a — room for a real mix of vegetables, fruit, and perennials matched to the local frost calendar.
These conditions suit cabbage, cranberry, lavender, and collard greens — a starting list any specific site will trim or extend with its own soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Eldora, 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 Eldora 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 Eldora — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Eldora — the short answer
Eldora, Iowa: USDA zone 5a, about 188 days between hard freezes, across 3K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 5a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 14
- 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
- ~188
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- City area
- 3K 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 Eldora's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Eldora's 188-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Eldora
Each reading below is measured for Eldora itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredEldora runs about 188 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
MeasuredEldora 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 Eldora is in
Eldora sits in the Western Corn Belt Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Eldora's own centroid rather than borrowed from Hardin County.
What Grows in Eldora
Every plant below cleared Eldora's own zone 5a and its 188-day season. Each card opens that plant's Iowa profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Eldora?
For most of the year, no — what changes is which crops still fit the days remaining. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 17; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 14 (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. 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 Eldora
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Eldora. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- ELDORA-NEW PROVIDENCE MIDDLE SCHUnderground Storage Tanks · 100 ft
- HARDIN COUNTY MAINTENANCEUnderground Storage Tanks · 100 ft
- PINE LAKE LUMBER INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 100 ft
- 087N19W07DAC 1935Eldora 4Nitrate · 450 ft
- KUM & GO #511Underground Storage Tanks · 550 ft
- 087N19W07DAD 1934EldoraNitrate · 650 ft
- 087N19W07DAAD 14548 1963Eldora 5Nitrate · 650 ft
- STATE TRAINING SCHOOLUnderground Storage Tanks · 750 ft
- AGRIPRO SEEDSUnderground Storage Tanks · 750 ft
- ELDORA CITY OFBrownfields · 950 ft
- CASEY''S GENERAL STORE #2532Underground Storage Tanks · 950 ft
- CAR CARE CORNERUnderground Storage Tanks · 1100 ft
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Eldora'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 Eldora.
Total Sites
224
within ~10 miles of Eldora
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
3 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Eldora
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Eldora
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Eldora, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 160 sites within ~10 miles of Eldora. Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
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 Eldora
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 Eldora average
Your land is one point inside Eldora
Everything above resolves to Eldora as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 3K 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 Eldora Average
Eldora Average
- ●USDA Zones 5a, averaged across Eldora
- ●One soil character for all of Eldora
- ●Frost dates read at Eldora's scale: Apr 14 to Oct 19
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Eldora's 5a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Eldora
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Eldora, Iowa — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Eldora averages can't show:
We read public map data around Eldora — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Eldora average
How we know this about Eldora
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 Eldora’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 Eldora
When does frost risk typically end in Eldora?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Eldora typically lands around Apr 14, 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 5.
When is the first frost in Eldora?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Eldora 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 188 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Eldora?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Eldora sees about 188 frost-free days — roughly Apr 14 through Oct 19, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 5 to Oct 5, about 153 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Eldora?
The federal record around Eldora is a meaningful one — 224 documented sites, mostly Nitrate entries (160), 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 Eldora?
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 Eldora's scale — its 5a band and its 188-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Eldora'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 Eldora’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Eldora's own scale — its own ~188-day season between 28°F freezes, the 2,740 acres it covers and 224 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Eldora's own USDA hardiness band, zones 5aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Eldora's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 14 and Oct 19 and the ~188-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 224 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Eldora, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Eldora's boundary and the 2,740 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 5a and a ~188-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Eldora'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 Eldora's 2,740 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Hardin County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Hardin 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 Hardin County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Eldora's 2,740 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Eldora you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 2,740 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 Eldora-wide figureread your own land →
More in Iowa
Wider growing context
What grows across IowaEldora sits outside our named growing regions, so Iowa as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides