Collyer, Kansas, sits in USDA hardiness zone 6a — room for a real mix of vegetables, fruit, and perennials matched to the local frost calendar.
Expect cabbage, hazelnut, lavender, and collard greens to be strong candidates here; the deciding factors on any one parcel stay local — soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Collyer, 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 Collyer 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 Collyer — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Collyer — the short answer
Collyer, Kansas: USDA zone 6a, about 197 days between hard freezes, across 150 acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 6a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 12
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 26
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~197
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- City area
- 150 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 6a is Collyer's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Collyer's 197-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Collyer
Each reading below is measured for Collyer itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredCollyer 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
MeasuredCollyer sits in USDA hardiness zone 6a.
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 Collyer is in
Collyer sits in the Central Great Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Collyer's own centroid rather than borrowed from Trego County.
What Grows in Collyer
Every plant below cleared Collyer's own zone 6a and its 197-day season. Each card opens that plant's Kansas profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Collyer?
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 15; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 12 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 26 — 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 Collyer
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Collyer. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- WALTS REPAIRBrownfields · 850 ft
- 12S 25W 05DCC 01Nitrate · 1800 ft
- 12S 25W 05CDD 01Nitrate · 2100 ft
- ROHLEDER OIL COMPANYUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- 12S 25W 11AAB 01Nitrate · 3.1 mi
- 12S 26W 11BB 01Nitrate · 3.5 mi
- 12S 25W 12AAA 01Nitrate · 4.3 mi
- 12S 26W 10CC 01Nitrate · 4.7 mi
- 11S 26W 12CC 01Nitrate · 5.3 mi
- 11S 24W32CBCC1Nitrate · 5.4 mi
- 12S 24W 05CDC 01Nitrate · 5.6 mi
- 11S 26W 33BB 01Nitrate · 5.6 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Collyer'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 Collyer.
Total Sites
77
within ~10 miles of Collyer
Risk Level
Moderate
Highest-severity
1 concentrated animal feeding operation
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Collyer
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Collyer
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Collyer, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 58 sites within ~10 miles of Collyer. 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.
Test well water for nitrate if you rely on a private well for irrigation (EPA standard: 10 mg/L).
Check your specific parcel in Collyer
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 Collyer average
Your land is one point inside Collyer
Everything above resolves to Collyer as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 150 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 Collyer Average
Collyer Average
- ●USDA Zones 6a, averaged across Collyer
- ●One soil character for all of Collyer
- ●Frost dates read at Collyer's scale: Apr 12 to Oct 26
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Collyer's 6a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Collyer
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Collyer, Kansas — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Collyer averages can't show:
We read public map data around Collyer — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Collyer average
How we know this about Collyer
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 Collyer’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 Collyer
When does frost risk typically end in Collyer?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Collyer typically lands around Apr 12, 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 3.
When is the first frost in Collyer?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Collyer typically arrives around Oct 26, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 12, so the watching starts about Sep 26 — about 197 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Collyer?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Collyer sees about 197 frost-free days — roughly Apr 12 through Oct 26, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 3 to Oct 12, about 162 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Collyer?
The federal record around Collyer shows 77 documented sites, mostly Nitrate entries (58), the nearest Brownfields record about 0.2 miles 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 Collyer?
From about Sep 26 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 26 (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 26. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Collyer's scale — its 6a band and its 197-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Collyer'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 Collyer’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Collyer's own scale — its own ~197-day season between 28°F freezes, the 150 acres it covers and 77 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Collyer's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Collyer's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 12 and Oct 26 and the ~197-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 77 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Collyer, the closest Brownfields record about 0.2 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Collyer's boundary and the 150 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6a and a ~197-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Collyer's own centroid, the Central Great PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Collyer's 150 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Trego County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Trego 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 Trego County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Collyer's 150 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Collyer you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 150 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Brownfields 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 Collyer-wide figureread your own land →
More in Kansas
Wider growing context
What grows across KansasCollyer sits outside our named growing regions, so Kansas as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides