Wyoming, Iowa, sits in USDA hardiness zone 5a — a band that supports both cool-season staples and warm-season crops chosen to fit the local frost window.
A short list that earns its place here — cabbage, cranberry, lavender, and collard greens — with any one site's soil, sun, and drainage making the final cut.
Even in Wyoming, 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 Wyoming 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 Wyoming — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Wyoming — the short answer
Wyoming, Iowa: USDA zone 5a, about 185 days between hard freezes, across 310 acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 5a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 17
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 19
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~185
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- City area
- 310 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 Wyoming's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Wyoming's 185-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Wyoming
Each reading below is measured for Wyoming itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredWyoming runs about 185 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
MeasuredWyoming 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 Wyoming is in
Wyoming sits in the Western Corn Belt Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Wyoming's own centroid rather than borrowed from Jones County.
What Grows in Wyoming
Every plant below cleared Wyoming's own zone 5a and its 185-day season. Each card opens that plant's Iowa profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Wyoming?
Too late for some crops, right on time for others — a growing season is a sequence, not a deadline. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 20; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 17 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 19 — 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 Wyoming
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Wyoming. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- MIDLAND COMMUNITY SCHOOL DISTRICTBrownfields · 450 ft
- BUCHOLTZ TRUCKINGUnderground Storage Tanks · 600 ft
- JONES COUNTYUnderground Storage Tanks · 600 ft
- TAYLOR BROS D-XUnderground Storage Tanks · 600 ft
- HALE GENERALUnderground Storage Tanks · 900 ft
- FORMER IDOT MAINTENANCE GARAGEUnderground Storage Tanks · 1200 ft
- MIDLAND COMMUNITY SCHOOLUnderground Storage Tanks · 1300 ft
- DIRKS OIL COUnderground Storage Tanks · 1300 ft
- CASEY''S GENERAL STORE 1126Underground Storage Tanks · 1500 ft
- 084N01W30B Wyoming (2) 1Nitrate · 1800 ft
- 084N01W30A 1933Wyoming (1) 2Nitrate · 2500 ft
- 084N02W36ACD 02598 1946Nitrate · 1.5 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Wyoming'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 Wyoming.
Total Sites
78
within ~10 miles of Wyoming
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
2 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Wyoming
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Wyoming
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Wyoming, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Wyoming — Nitrate (28 sites) and Mining (5 sites). 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.
Mining: Mining sites — both historic and active — can leach heavy metals (arsenic, lead, cadmium, mercury) into soil and water for centuries after operations cease.
Test well water for nitrate if you rely on a private well for irrigation (EPA standard: 10 mg/L).
Test soil for heavy metals (lead, arsenic, cadmium, mercury) — this is essential near any mining site.
Check your specific parcel in Wyoming
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 Wyoming average
Your land is one point inside Wyoming
Everything above resolves to Wyoming as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 310 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 Wyoming Average
Wyoming Average
- ●USDA Zones 5a, averaged across Wyoming
- ●One soil character for all of Wyoming
- ●Frost dates read at Wyoming's scale: Apr 17 to Oct 19
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Wyoming's 5a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Wyoming
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Wyoming, Iowa — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Wyoming averages can't show:
We read public map data around Wyoming — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Wyoming average
How we know this about Wyoming
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 Wyoming’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 Wyoming
When does frost risk typically end in Wyoming?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Wyoming typically lands around Apr 17, 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 8.
When is the first frost in Wyoming?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Wyoming typically arrives around Oct 19, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 5, so the watching starts about Sep 19 — about 185 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Wyoming?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Wyoming sees about 185 frost-free days — roughly Apr 17 through Oct 19, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 8 to Oct 5, about 150 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Wyoming?
The federal record around Wyoming is a meaningful one — 78 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (39), the nearest Brownfields record under a tenth of a mile 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 Wyoming?
From about Sep 19 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 19 (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 19. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Wyoming's scale — its 5a band and its 185-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Wyoming'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 Wyoming’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Wyoming's own scale — its own ~185-day season between 28°F freezes, the 310 acres it covers and 78 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Wyoming's own USDA hardiness band, zones 5aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Wyoming's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 17 and Oct 19 and the ~185-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 78 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Wyoming, the closest Brownfields record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Wyoming's boundary and the 310 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 5a and a ~185-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Wyoming'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 Wyoming's 310 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Jones County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Jones 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 Jones County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Wyoming's 310 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Wyoming you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 310 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Brownfields 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 Wyoming-wide figureread your own land →
More in Iowa
Wider growing context
What grows across IowaWyoming sits outside our named growing regions, so Iowa as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides