Hepler, Kansas, sits in USDA hardiness zone 7a — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
Crops well matched to these conditions include cabbage, hazelnut, california poppy, and collard greens — though what thrives on any one site still turns on its specific soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Hepler, 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 Hepler 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 Hepler — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Hepler — the short answer
Hepler, Kansas: USDA zone 7a, about 229 days between hard freezes, across 639 acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 7a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Mar 27
- 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
- ~229
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- City area
- 639 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 Hepler's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Hepler's 229-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Hepler
Each reading below is measured for Hepler itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredHepler runs about 229 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
MeasuredHepler 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 Hepler is in
Hepler sits in the Central Irregular Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Hepler's own centroid rather than borrowed from Crawford County.
What Grows in Hepler
Every plant below cleared Hepler's own zone 7a and its 229-day season. Each card opens that plant's Kansas profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Hepler?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. Cool-season crops can go in from around Feb 27; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Mar 27 (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. With a season this long, “too late” mostly means “switch crops” — second sowings and a full fall garden are the norm, with garlic closing the year.
What's on the federal record near Hepler
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Hepler. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- SKELGAS INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 400 ft
- 27S 22E 35BBB 01Nitrate · 0.5 mi
- DONS SPECIAL SERVICE & USED CAUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.2 mi
- 28S 22E 02ABC 01Nitrate · 1.4 mi
- 28S 22E 21CCC 01Nitrate · 5.7 mi
- BOURBON CO RWD 2CPFAS · 5.9 mi
- FORT SCOTT, CITY OFPFAS · 5.9 mi
- 26S 22E 28DDD 01Nitrate · 6.0 mi
- 28S 22E 20CC 04Nitrate · 6.1 mi
- 28S 22E 20CC 03Nitrate · 6.1 mi
- 28S 22E 20CC 02Nitrate · 6.1 mi
- FORT SCOTT, KS STOCKPILEToxics Release Inventory · 6.1 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Hepler'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 Hepler.
Total Sites
35
within ~10 miles of Hepler
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
1 Toxics Release Inventory facility
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Hepler
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Hepler
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Hepler, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 24 sites within ~10 miles of Hepler. 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 Hepler
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 Hepler average
Your land is one point inside Hepler
Everything above resolves to Hepler as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 639 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 Hepler Average
Hepler Average
- ●USDA Zones 7a, averaged across Hepler
- ●One soil character for all of Hepler
- ●Frost dates read at Hepler's scale: Mar 27 to Nov 11
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Hepler's 7a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Hepler
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Hepler, Kansas — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Hepler averages can't show:
We read public map data around Hepler — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Hepler average
How we know this about Hepler
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 Hepler’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 Hepler
When does frost risk typically end in Hepler?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Hepler typically lands around Mar 27, 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 17.
When is the first frost in Hepler?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Hepler 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 229 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Hepler?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Hepler sees about 229 frost-free days — roughly Mar 27 through Nov 11, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Apr 17 to Oct 28, about 194 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Hepler?
The federal record around Hepler is a meaningful one — 35 documented sites, mostly Nitrate entries (24), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks 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 Hepler?
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 Hepler's scale — its 7a band and its 229-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Hepler'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 Hepler’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Hepler's own scale — its own ~229-day season between 28°F freezes, the 639 acres it covers and 35 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Hepler's own USDA hardiness band, zones 7aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Hepler's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Mar 27 and Nov 11 and the ~229-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 35 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Hepler, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Hepler's boundary and the 639 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 7a and a ~229-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Hepler's own centroid, the Central Irregular PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Hepler's 639 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Crawford County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Crawford 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 Crawford County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Hepler's 639 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Hepler you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 639 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 Hepler-wide figureread your own land →