Ellston, Iowa, sits in USDA hardiness zone 5b — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
On paper, cabbage, cranberry, lavender, and collard greens all suit these conditions — on the ground, soil, sun, and drainage make the final call.
Even in Ellston, 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 Ellston 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 Ellston — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Ellston — the short answer
Ellston, Iowa: USDA zone 5b, about 195 days between hard freezes, across 159 acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 5b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 12
- 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
- ~195
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- City area
- 159 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 Ellston's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Ellston's 195-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Ellston
Each reading below is measured for Ellston itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredEllston runs about 195 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
MeasuredEllston 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 Ellston is in
Ellston sits in the Central Irregular Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Ellston's own centroid rather than borrowed from Ringgold County.
What Grows in Ellston
Every plant below cleared Ellston's own zone 5b and its 195-day season. Each card opens that plant's Iowa profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Ellston?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 15; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 12 (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. The tail of the season still works: sixty-day crops into late summer, quick greens after, garlic last of all.
What's on the federal record near Ellston
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Ellston. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- FORMER ELLSTON SERVICEUnderground Storage Tanks · 150 ft
- SUN VALLEY MOTOR & MARINAUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.6 mi
- REASONERS GARAGE INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.8 mi
- ENGLAND SERVICEUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.6 mi
- 071N28W34DBBB 34560 1935CCC Camp 2Nitrate · 5.0 mi
- 071N28W23ADNitrate · 7.6 mi
- JIMMERSON SERVICEUnderground Storage Tanks · 7.8 mi
- MARTIN MARIETTA AGGREGATESUnderground Storage Tanks · 7.9 mi
- DEKALB QUARRYUnderground Storage Tanks · 7.9 mi
- GRAND RIVER OIL COMPANYUnderground Storage Tanks · 7.9 mi
- 071N29W17BD 1934ArispeNitrate · 9.3 mi
- 068N28W02CCAA 00173 1934Camp Kellerton City ParkNitrate · 9.4 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Ellston'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 Ellston.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Ellston
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Ellston
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Ellston, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 12 sites within ~10 miles of Ellston. 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 Ellston
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 Ellston average
Your land is one point inside Ellston
Everything above resolves to Ellston as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 159 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 Ellston Average
Ellston Average
- ●USDA Zones 5b, averaged across Ellston
- ●One soil character for all of Ellston
- ●Frost dates read at Ellston's scale: Apr 12 to Oct 24
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Ellston's 5b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Ellston
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Ellston, Iowa — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Ellston averages can't show:
We read public map data around Ellston — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Ellston average
How we know this about Ellston
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 Ellston’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 Ellston
When does frost risk typically end in Ellston?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Ellston typically lands around Apr 12, 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 3.
When is the first frost in Ellston?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Ellston 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 195 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Ellston?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Ellston sees about 195 frost-free days — roughly Apr 12 through Oct 24, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 3 to Oct 10, about 160 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Ellston?
The federal record around Ellston is light — 28 documented sites across the 9 federal source types we checked, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (15), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out — and proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard. Growing food here starts from a strong position; a soil test before new food beds settles any site-specific question.
How do I protect my plants from frost in Ellston?
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 Ellston's scale — its 5b band and its 195-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Ellston'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 Ellston’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Ellston's own scale — its own ~195-day season between 28°F freezes, the 159 acres it covers and 28 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Ellston's own USDA hardiness band, zones 5bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Ellston's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 12 and Oct 24 and the ~195-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 28 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Ellston, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Ellston's boundary and the 159 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 5b and a ~195-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Ellston's own centroid, the Central Irregular PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Ellston's 159 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Ringgold County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Ringgold 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 Ringgold County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Ellston's 159 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Ellston you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 159 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 Ellston-wide figureread your own land →
More in Iowa
Wider growing context
What grows across IowaEllston sits outside our named growing regions, so Iowa as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides