Stanley, Iowa, sits in USDA hardiness zone 4b — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
Expect cabbage, cranberry, turkish rocket, and collard greens to be strong candidates here; the deciding factors on any one parcel stay local — soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Stanley, 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 Stanley 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 Stanley — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Stanley — the short answer
Stanley, Iowa: USDA zone 4b, about 178 days between hard freezes, across 130 acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 4b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 18
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 13
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~178
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- City area
- 130 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 4b is Stanley's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Stanley's 178-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Stanley
Each reading below is measured for Stanley itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredStanley runs about 178 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
MeasuredStanley sits in USDA hardiness zone 4b.
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 Stanley is in
Stanley sits in the Western Corn Belt Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Stanley's own centroid rather than borrowed from Buchanan County.
What Grows in Stanley
Every plant below cleared Stanley's own zone 4b and its 178-day season. Each card opens that plant's Iowa profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Stanley?
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 21; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 18 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 13 — 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 Stanley
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Stanley. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- IOWA FARM AUTOMATIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 300 ft
- STANLEY ELECTRIC SERVICEUnderground Storage Tanks · 600 ft
- KOUNTRY KENS INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 1100 ft
- 091N09W13CCC 1942Nitrate · 4.1 mi
- KNAPPS 66 SERVICEUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.4 mi
- AURORA SUPPLY INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.4 mi
- BUCKMAN CONST INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.4 mi
- AURORA FARM CENTERUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.4 mi
- AURORA ELEVATOR INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.5 mi
- JOHN THIMMESCH TRUCKINGUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.5 mi
- BIG O MARTUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.6 mi
- AURORA PLG & ELECT INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.6 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Stanley'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 Stanley.
Total Sites
148
within ~10 miles of Stanley
Risk Level
Moderate
Highest-severity
9 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Stanley
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Stanley
Highest-Severity Sites
Know Before You Grow
- •Underground tanks leak petroleum as they age — near a former filling station, test the soil.
- •On a private well, test for nitrates: above 10 mg/L the water needs treatment before irrigating.
- •Near a brownfield, raised beds of imported soil give your food clean ground.
Check your specific parcel in Stanley
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 Stanley average
Your land is one point inside Stanley
Everything above resolves to Stanley as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 130 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 Stanley Average
Stanley Average
- ●USDA Zones 4b, averaged across Stanley
- ●One soil character for all of Stanley
- ●Frost dates read at Stanley's scale: Apr 18 to Oct 13
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Stanley's 4b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Stanley
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Stanley, Iowa — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Stanley averages can't show:
We read public map data around Stanley — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Stanley average
How we know this about Stanley
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 Stanley’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 Stanley
When does frost risk typically end in Stanley?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Stanley typically lands around Apr 18, 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 9.
When is the first frost in Stanley?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Stanley typically arrives around Oct 13, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 29, so the watching starts about Sep 13 — about 178 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Stanley?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Stanley sees about 178 frost-free days — roughly Apr 18 through Oct 13, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 9 to Sep 29, about 143 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Stanley?
The federal record around Stanley shows 148 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (78), 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 Stanley?
From about Sep 13 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 13 (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 13. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Stanley's scale — its 4b band and its 178-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Stanley'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 Stanley’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Stanley's own scale — its own ~178-day season between 28°F freezes, the 130 acres it covers and 148 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Stanley's own USDA hardiness band, zones 4bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Stanley's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 18 and Oct 13 and the ~178-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 148 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Stanley, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Stanley's boundary and the 130 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 4b and a ~178-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Stanley'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 Stanley's 130 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Buchanan County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Buchanan 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 Buchanan County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Stanley's 130 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Stanley you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 130 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 Stanley-wide figureread your own land →
More in Iowa
Wider growing context
What grows across IowaStanley sits outside our named growing regions, so Iowa as a whole is its closest context here.