Persia, 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 Persia, 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 Persia 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 Persia — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Persia — the short answer
Persia, Iowa: USDA zone 5b, about 197 days between hard freezes, across 321 acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 5b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 11
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 25
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~197
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- City area
- 321 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 Persia's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Persia's 197-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Persia
Each reading below is measured for Persia itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredPersia runs about 197 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
MeasuredPersia 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 Persia is in
Persia sits in the Western Corn Belt Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Persia's own centroid rather than borrowed from Harrison County.
What Grows in Persia
Every plant below cleared Persia's own zone 5b and its 197-day season. Each card opens that plant's Iowa profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Persia?
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 14; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 11 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 25 — 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 Persia
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Persia. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- SECONDARY ROAD DEPARTMENTUnderground Storage Tanks · 500 ft
- GEORGE E WEARUnderground Storage Tanks · 500 ft
- D&D TIREUnderground Storage Tanks · 550 ft
- PERSIA CARDTROLUnderground Storage Tanks · 1300 ft
- PERSIA OIL COMPANYUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.6 mi
- PORTSMOUTH WATER SUPPLYPFAS · 5.0 mi
- TRI-CENTER HIGH SCHOOLBrownfields · 5.3 mi
- SHELBY COUNTYUnderground Storage Tanks · 5.5 mi
- CONOCO STATIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 5.5 mi
- HELLER TIRE CENTERUnderground Storage Tanks · 5.6 mi
- LEINEN INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 5.6 mi
- AT&T COMMUNICATIONSUnderground Storage Tanks · 5.6 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Persia'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 Persia.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Persia
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Persia
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Persia, Underground Storage Tanks runs higher than the national average — 32 sites within ~10 miles of Persia. That's not a problem with your land — it's information about it.
Underground Storage Tanks: Underground storage tanks are the single most common source of soil contamination near homes and gardens.
Use raised beds with imported soil — this eliminates the primary soil-contact pathway.
Check your specific parcel in Persia
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 Persia average
Your land is one point inside Persia
Everything above resolves to Persia as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 321 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 Persia Average
Persia Average
- ●USDA Zones 5b, averaged across Persia
- ●One soil character for all of Persia
- ●Frost dates read at Persia's scale: Apr 11 to Oct 25
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Persia's 5b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Persia
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Persia, Iowa — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Persia averages can't show:
We read public map data around Persia — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Persia average
How we know this about Persia
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 Persia’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 Persia
When does frost risk typically end in Persia?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Persia typically lands around Apr 11, 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 2.
When is the first frost in Persia?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Persia typically arrives around Oct 25, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 11, so the watching starts about Sep 25 — about 197 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Persia?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Persia sees about 197 frost-free days — roughly Apr 11 through Oct 25, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 2 to Oct 11, about 162 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Persia?
The federal record around Persia shows 40 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (32), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out — a typical footprint for a growing area, and proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard. It's worth seeing which recorded sites sit closest to where you grow, and testing the soil before new food beds near any of them.
How do I protect my plants from frost in Persia?
From about Sep 25 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 25 (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 25. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Persia's scale — its 5b band and its 197-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Persia'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 Persia’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Persia's own scale — its own ~197-day season between 28°F freezes, the 321 acres it covers and 40 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Persia's own USDA hardiness band, zones 5bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Persia's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 11 and Oct 25 and the ~197-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 40 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Persia, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Persia's boundary and the 321 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 5b and a ~197-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Persia'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 Persia's 321 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Harrison County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Harrison 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 Harrison County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Persia's 321 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Persia you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 321 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 Persia-wide figureread your own land →
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