Ely, Iowa, sits in USDA hardiness zone 5a — 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 Ely, 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 Ely 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 Ely — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Ely — the short answer
Ely, Iowa: USDA zone 5a, about 191 days between hard freezes, across 1K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 5a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 13
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 21
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~191
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- City area
- 1K 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 Ely's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Ely's 191-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Ely
Each reading below is measured for Ely itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredEly runs about 191 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
MeasuredEly 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 Ely is in
Ely sits in the Western Corn Belt Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Ely's own centroid rather than borrowed from Linn County.
What Grows in Ely
Every plant below cleared Ely's own zone 5a and its 191-day season. Each card opens that plant's Iowa profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Ely?
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 16; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 13 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 21 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. Even past midsummer there is room for a true fall garden here, and garlic planted near the close carries the momentum into next year.
What's on the federal record near Ely
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Ely. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- ELY GARAGEUnderground Storage Tanks · 1900 ft
- VAVRA LBR COMPANYUnderground Storage Tanks · 1900 ft
- TRAILER TRANSFER SERVICEUnderground Storage Tanks · 2000 ft
- F J KROB 56Underground Storage Tanks · 2400 ft
- FAA ATCTUnderground Storage Tanks · 2500 ft
- CEDAR RAPIDS QUARRYUnderground Storage Tanks · 2500 ft
- CLEPPES 66Underground Storage Tanks · 2600 ft
- CASEY''S GENERAL STORE 2566Underground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- 082N06W31ACAA 22720 1971Ely 1Nitrate · 0.6 mi
- BAR NONE MIDWESTUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- 082N07W25AAAB 23766 1976IGS & USGS 21 Ely NW TestNitrate · 1.0 mi
- 082N07W25AAAB USGS Ely Railroad TestNitrate · 1.3 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Ely'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 Ely.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Ely
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Ely
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Ely, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Ely — Toxics Release Inventory (70 sites) and Nitrate (264 sites). 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.
Nitrate: Nitrate contamination primarily comes from agricultural fertilizer runoff and failing septic systems.
Check prevailing wind direction — downwind parcels face higher exposure than upwind or crosswind locations.
Test well water for nitrate if you rely on a private well for irrigation (EPA standard: 10 mg/L).
Check your specific parcel in Ely
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 Ely average
Your land is one point inside Ely
Everything above resolves to Ely as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 1K 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 Ely Average
Ely Average
- ●USDA Zones 5a, averaged across Ely
- ●One soil character for all of Ely
- ●Frost dates read at Ely's scale: Apr 13 to Oct 21
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Ely's 5a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Ely
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Ely, Iowa — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Ely averages can't show:
We read public map data around Ely — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Ely average
How we know this about Ely
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 Ely’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 Ely
When does frost risk typically end in Ely?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Ely typically lands around Apr 13, 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 4.
When is the first frost in Ely?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Ely typically arrives around Oct 21, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 7, so the watching starts about Sep 21 — about 191 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Ely?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Ely sees about 191 frost-free days — roughly Apr 13 through Oct 21, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 4 to Oct 7, about 156 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Ely?
The federal record around Ely is a meaningful one — 972 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (416), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.4 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 Ely?
From about Sep 21 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 21 (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 21. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Ely's scale — its 5a band and its 191-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Ely'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 Ely’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Ely's own scale — its own ~191-day season between 28°F freezes, the 1,079 acres it covers and 972 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Ely's own USDA hardiness band, zones 5aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Ely's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 13 and Oct 21 and the ~191-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 972 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Ely, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.4 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Ely's boundary and the 1,079 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 5a and a ~191-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Ely'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 Ely's 1,079 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Linn County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Linn 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 Linn County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Ely's 1,079 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Ely you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,079 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.4 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 Ely-wide figureread your own land →
More in Iowa
Wider growing context
What grows across IowaEly sits outside our named growing regions, so Iowa as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides