Argonia, Kansas, sits in USDA hardiness zone 7a — a band that supports both cool-season staples and warm-season crops chosen to fit the local frost window.
On paper, cabbage, hazelnut, california poppy, and collard greens all suit these conditions — on the ground, soil, sun, and drainage make the final call.
Even in Argonia, 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 Argonia 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 Argonia — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Argonia — the short answer
Argonia, Kansas: USDA zone 7a, about 228 days between hard freezes, across 447 acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 7a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Mar 28
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 11
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~228
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- City area
- 447 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 7a is Argonia's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Argonia's 228-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Argonia
Each reading below is measured for Argonia itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredArgonia runs about 228 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
MeasuredArgonia sits in USDA hardiness zone 7a.
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 Argonia is in
Argonia sits in the Central Great Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Argonia's own centroid rather than borrowed from Sumner County.
What Grows in Argonia
Every plant below cleared Argonia's own zone 7a and its 228-day season. Each card opens that plant's Kansas profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Argonia?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. Cool-season crops can go in from around Feb 28; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Mar 28 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 11 — 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 Argonia
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Argonia. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- BOB & JOHN'S COUNTRY STOREUnderground Storage Tanks · 850 ft
- ELDON AUTOMOTIVE REPAUnderground Storage Tanks · 950 ft
- QUICK PICK #8Underground Storage Tanks · 1100 ft
- RICK'S SERVICEUnderground Storage Tanks · 1300 ft
- FORREST IMPLEMENTUnderground Storage Tanks · 1400 ft
- ARGONIA, CITY OFUnderground Storage Tanks · 1500 ft
- FARMERS AGRI SVCBrownfields · 1600 ft
- 32S 04W 09CCC 04Nitrate · 2200 ft
- 32S 04W 09CCC 03Nitrate · 2200 ft
- PROGRESSIVE AG COOP ASSNUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- 32S 04W 20ADD 01Nitrate · 1.2 mi
- 32S 04W 05ABB 01Nitrate · 2.3 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Argonia'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 Argonia.
Total Sites
51
within ~10 miles of Argonia
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
1 Superfund site (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Argonia
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Argonia
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Argonia, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 38 sites within ~10 miles of Argonia. 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 Argonia
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 Argonia average
Your land is one point inside Argonia
Everything above resolves to Argonia as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 447 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 Argonia Average
Argonia Average
- ●USDA Zones 7a, averaged across Argonia
- ●One soil character for all of Argonia
- ●Frost dates read at Argonia's scale: Mar 28 to Nov 11
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Argonia's 7a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Argonia
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Argonia, Kansas — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Argonia averages can't show:
We read public map data around Argonia — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Argonia average
How we know this about Argonia
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 Argonia’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 Argonia
When does frost risk typically end in Argonia?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Argonia typically lands around Mar 28, 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 18.
When is the first frost in Argonia?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Argonia typically arrives around Nov 11, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 28, so the watching starts about Oct 12 — about 228 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Argonia?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Argonia sees about 228 frost-free days — roughly Mar 28 through Nov 11, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Apr 18 to Oct 28, about 193 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Argonia?
The federal record around Argonia is a meaningful one — 51 documented sites, mostly Nitrate entries (38), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 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 Argonia?
From about Oct 12 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 11 (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 11. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Argonia's scale — its 7a band and its 228-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Argonia'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 Argonia’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Argonia's own scale — its own ~228-day season between 28°F freezes, the 447 acres it covers and 51 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Argonia's own USDA hardiness band, zones 7aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Argonia's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Mar 28 and Nov 11 and the ~228-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 51 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Argonia, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Argonia's boundary and the 447 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 7a and a ~228-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Argonia's own centroid, the Central Great PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Argonia's 447 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Sumner County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Sumner 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 Sumner County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Argonia's 447 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Argonia you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 447 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 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 Argonia-wide figureread your own land →