Americus, Kansas, sits in USDA hardiness zone 6b — enough range to grow cool-season vegetables, hardy fruit, and warm-season crops that mature before the first hard frost.
On paper, cabbage, hazelnut, lavender, and collard greens all suit these conditions — on the ground, soil, sun, and drainage make the final call.
Even in Americus, 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 Americus 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 Americus — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Americus — the short answer
Americus, Kansas: USDA zone 6b, about 217 days between hard freezes, across 693 acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 6b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 2
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 5
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~217
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- City area
- 693 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 6b is Americus's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Americus's 217-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Americus
Each reading below is measured for Americus itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredAmericus runs about 217 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
MeasuredAmericus sits in USDA hardiness zone 6b.
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 Americus is in
Americus sits in the Flint Hills — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Americus's own centroid rather than borrowed from Lyon County.
What Grows in Americus
Every plant below cleared Americus's own zone 6b and its 217-day season. Each card opens that plant's Kansas profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Americus?
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 5; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 2 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 5 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. There is slack in a calendar like this — late plantings, second rounds of favorites, and a fall bench that keeps beds working.
What's on the federal record near Americus
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Americus. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- 18S 10E 12CBB 01Nitrate · 2600 ft
- 18S 10E 10BCC 07Nitrate · 2.1 mi
- SOUTHERN STAR CENTRAL GAS PIPELINE, INC.Brownfields · 2.7 mi
- 18S 11E 21ABB 01Nitrate · 4.0 mi
- 17S 10E 14DA 01Nitrate · 4.4 mi
- EMPORIA SERVICE AREA M.P. 132Underground Storage Tanks · 4.8 mi
- FAA-EMPORIA VORUnderground Storage Tanks · 5.0 mi
- 17S 10E 16AD 01Nitrate · 5.2 mi
- 18S 11E 33BA 01Nitrate · 5.2 mi
- 18S 11E 22ADA 01Nitrate · 5.3 mi
- 19S 10E 04ABA 02Nitrate · 5.5 mi
- 18S 11E 23BAD 01Nitrate · 5.7 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Americus'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 Americus.
Total Sites
244
within ~10 miles of Americus
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
9 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Americus
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Americus
Highest-Severity Sites
Know Before You Grow
- •Underground tanks leak petroleum as they age — near a former filling station, test the soil.
- •Near a brownfield, raised beds of imported soil give your food clean ground.
- •On a private well, test for nitrates: above 10 mg/L the water needs treatment before irrigating.
Check your specific parcel in Americus
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 Americus average
Your land is one point inside Americus
Everything above resolves to Americus as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 693 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 Americus Average
Americus Average
- ●USDA Zones 6b, averaged across Americus
- ●One soil character for all of Americus
- ●Frost dates read at Americus's scale: Apr 2 to Nov 5
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Americus's 6b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Americus
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Americus, Kansas — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Americus averages can't show:
We read public map data around Americus — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Americus average
How we know this about Americus
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 Americus’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 Americus
When does frost risk typically end in Americus?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Americus typically lands around Apr 2, 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 23.
When is the first frost in Americus?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Americus typically arrives around Nov 5, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 22, so the watching starts about Oct 6 — about 217 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Americus?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Americus sees about 217 frost-free days — roughly Apr 2 through Nov 5, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Apr 23 to Oct 22, about 182 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Americus?
The federal record around Americus is a meaningful one — 244 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (103), the nearest Nitrate record about 0.5 miles 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 Americus?
From about Oct 6 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 Nov 5 (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 Nov 5. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Americus's scale — its 6b band and its 217-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Americus'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 Americus’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Americus's own scale — its own ~217-day season between 28°F freezes, the 693 acres it covers and 244 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Americus's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Americus's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 2 and Nov 5 and the ~217-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 244 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Americus, the closest Nitrate record about 0.5 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Americus's boundary and the 693 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6b and a ~217-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Americus's own centroid, the Flint HillsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Americus's 693 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Lyon County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Lyon County
- The growing challenges every Kansas grower plans around — written at state scale, so they stay on the state guidefrom Kansas
- Butterfly and beetle records, and the farmland pesticide estimate — all published county-widefrom Lyon County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Americus's 693 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Americus you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 693 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Nitrate record about 0.5 miles 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 Americus-wide figureread your own land →
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