Lamoni, Iowa, sits in USDA hardiness zone 5b — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
Reliable performers under these conditions include cabbage, cranberry, lavender, and collard greens; what your own ground favors still comes down to its soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Lamoni, 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 Lamoni 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 Lamoni — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Lamoni — the short answer
Lamoni, Iowa: USDA zone 5b, about 203 days between hard freezes, across 3K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 5b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 7
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 27
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~203
- 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 5b is Lamoni's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Lamoni's 203-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Lamoni
Each reading below is measured for Lamoni itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredLamoni runs about 203 days between hard freezes — a long growing season.
There is slack for succession plantings and slow-finishing crops: many vegetables can be sown twice, and the heat-lovers have time to ripen fully.
Plan a second sowing of quick crops after the first comes out, and use the fall window most gardeners let sit idle.
NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Winter hardiness
MeasuredLamoni 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 Lamoni is in
Lamoni sits in the Central Irregular Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Lamoni's own centroid rather than borrowed from Decatur County.
What Grows in Lamoni
Every plant below cleared Lamoni's own zone 5b and its 203-day season. Each card opens that plant's Iowa profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Lamoni?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 10; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 7 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 27 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. Here the season winds down slowly: late sowings, a real autumn harvest, and garlic in the ground before the first hard freeze.
What's on the federal record near Lamoni
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Lamoni. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- GRACELAND COLLEGEUnderground Storage Tanks · 500 ft
- FAA VORTACUnderground Storage Tanks · 950 ft
- FARMERS COOPUnderground Storage Tanks · 1400 ft
- LAMONI CAR CARE CENTERUnderground Storage Tanks · 1500 ft
- INDUSTRIAL HARDFACINGUnderground Storage Tanks · 1500 ft
- CASEY''S GENERAL STORE 2529Underground Storage Tanks · 1500 ft
- TABORS SERVICEUnderground Storage Tanks · 1600 ft
- DENNIS MCINTIREUnderground Storage Tanks · 1700 ft
- LMU GENERATION STATIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 1900 ft
- GRACELAND UNIVERSITYBrownfields · 2400 ft
- LAMONI COMMUNITY SCHOOLSUnderground Storage Tanks · 2600 ft
- S J BARNEYUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Lamoni'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 Lamoni.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Lamoni
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Lamoni
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Lamoni, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 12 sites within ~10 miles of Lamoni. 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 Lamoni
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 Lamoni average
Your land is one point inside Lamoni
Everything above resolves to Lamoni 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 Lamoni Average
Lamoni Average
- ●USDA Zones 5b, averaged across Lamoni
- ●One soil character for all of Lamoni
- ●Frost dates read at Lamoni's scale: Apr 7 to Oct 27
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Lamoni's 5b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Lamoni
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Lamoni, Iowa — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Lamoni averages can't show:
We read public map data around Lamoni — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Lamoni average
How we know this about Lamoni
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 Lamoni’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 Lamoni
When does frost risk typically end in Lamoni?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Lamoni typically lands around Apr 7, 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 Apr 28.
When is the first frost in Lamoni?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Lamoni typically arrives around Oct 27, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 13, so the watching starts about Sep 27 — about 203 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Lamoni?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Lamoni sees about 203 frost-free days — roughly Apr 7 through Oct 27, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Apr 28 to Oct 13, about 168 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Lamoni?
The federal record around Lamoni is light — 43 documented sites across the 9 federal source types we checked, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (26), 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 Lamoni?
From about Sep 27 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 27 (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 27. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Lamoni's scale — its 5b band and its 203-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Lamoni'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 Lamoni’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Lamoni's own scale — its own ~203-day season between 28°F freezes, the 2,529 acres it covers and 43 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Lamoni's own USDA hardiness band, zones 5bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Lamoni's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 7 and Oct 27 and the ~203-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 43 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Lamoni, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Lamoni's boundary and the 2,529 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 5b and a ~203-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Lamoni's own centroid, the Central Irregular PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Lamoni's 2,529 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Decatur County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Decatur 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 Decatur County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Lamoni's 2,529 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Lamoni you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 2,529 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 Lamoni-wide figureread your own land →
More in Iowa
Wider growing context
What grows across IowaLamoni sits outside our named growing regions, so Iowa as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides