Lorimor, Iowa, sits in USDA hardiness zone 5b — room for a real mix of vegetables, fruit, and perennials matched to the local frost calendar.
Well-matched crops include cabbage, cranberry, lavender, and collard greens, and the gap between "grows in the area" and "grows in your yard" is closed by soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Lorimor, 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 Lorimor 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 Lorimor — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Lorimor — the short answer
Lorimor, Iowa: USDA zone 5b, about 195 days between hard freezes, across 276 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 22
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~195
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- City area
- 276 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 Lorimor's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Lorimor's 195-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Lorimor
Each reading below is measured for Lorimor itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredLorimor 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
MeasuredLorimor 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 Lorimor is in
Lorimor sits in the Western Corn Belt Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Lorimor's own centroid rather than borrowed from Union County.
What Grows in Lorimor
Every plant below cleared Lorimor'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 Lorimor?
Rarely: the season closes in stages, not all at once, and each stage has its crops. 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 22 — 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 Lorimor
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Lorimor. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- EAST UNION ELEMENTARYUnderground Storage Tanks · 450 ft
- KILPATRICK & SONSUnderground Storage Tanks · 950 ft
- 073N29W24ADDD 1975Lorimor 2Nitrate · 4.0 mi
- 073N27W22BBC 21842 1969Nitrate · 5.5 mi
- 074N27W36BCBB 22045 1969Nitrate · 7.8 mi
- 072N27W10AACC 11278 1959Murray 2Nitrate · 8.0 mi
- MURRAY COMMUNITY SCHOOLBrownfields · 8.0 mi
- 072N27W16AAANitrate · 8.0 mi
- CLARKE COUNTY SECONDARY ROADSUnderground Storage Tanks · 8.1 mi
- BROWNS SERVICEUnderground Storage Tanks · 8.1 mi
- 072N27W15BBC 01857 1944Murray Independent SchoolNitrate · 8.1 mi
- CASEYS GENERAL STORE 3332Underground Storage Tanks · 8.1 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Lorimor'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 Lorimor.
Total Sites
49
within ~10 miles of Lorimor
Risk Level
Low
Highest-severity
1 Toxics Release Inventory facility
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Lorimor
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Lorimor
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Lorimor, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 26 sites within ~10 miles of Lorimor. It's not cause for alarm — it's worth knowing, and there's a sensible way to grow around it.
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 Lorimor
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 Lorimor average
Your land is one point inside Lorimor
Everything above resolves to Lorimor as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 276 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 Lorimor Average
Lorimor Average
- ●USDA Zones 5b, averaged across Lorimor
- ●One soil character for all of Lorimor
- ●Frost dates read at Lorimor's scale: Apr 10 to Oct 22
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Lorimor's 5b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Lorimor
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Lorimor, Iowa — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Lorimor averages can't show:
We read public map data around Lorimor — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Lorimor average
How we know this about Lorimor
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 Lorimor’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 Lorimor
When does frost risk typically end in Lorimor?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Lorimor 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 Lorimor?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Lorimor typically arrives around Oct 22, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 8, so the watching starts about Sep 22 — about 195 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Lorimor?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Lorimor sees about 195 frost-free days — roughly Apr 10 through Oct 22, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 1 to Oct 8, about 160 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Lorimor?
The federal record around Lorimor is light — 49 documented sites across the 9 federal source types we checked, mostly Nitrate 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 Lorimor?
From about Sep 22 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 22 (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 22. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Lorimor's scale — its 5b band and its 195-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Lorimor'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 Lorimor’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Lorimor's own scale — its own ~195-day season between 28°F freezes, the 276 acres it covers and 49 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Lorimor's own USDA hardiness band, zones 5bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Lorimor's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 10 and Oct 22 and the ~195-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 49 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Lorimor, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Lorimor's boundary and the 276 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 Lorimor'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 Lorimor's 276 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Union County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Union 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 Union County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Lorimor's 276 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Lorimor you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 276 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 Lorimor-wide figureread your own land →
More in Iowa
Wider growing context
What grows across IowaLorimor sits outside our named growing regions, so Iowa as a whole is its closest context here.