Paradise, Kansas, sits in USDA hardiness zone 6a — enough range to grow cool-season vegetables, hardy fruit, and warm-season crops that mature before the first hard frost.
The conditions favor cabbage, hazelnut, lavender, and collard greens, among others — though every individual site edits that list with its own soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Paradise, 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 Paradise 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 Paradise — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Paradise — the short answer
Paradise, Kansas: USDA zone 6a, about 199 days between hard freezes, across 158 acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 6a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 10
- 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
- ~199
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- City area
- 158 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 Paradise's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Paradise's 199-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Paradise
Each reading below is measured for Paradise itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredParadise runs about 199 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
MeasuredParadise 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 Paradise is in
Paradise sits in the Central Great Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Paradise's own centroid rather than borrowed from Russell County.
What Grows in Paradise
Every plant below cleared Paradise's own zone 6a and its 199-day season. Each card opens that plant's Kansas profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Paradise?
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 13; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 10 (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. Late in the year the fall bench takes over — quick greens, radishes, and garlic that repays you next summer.
What's on the federal record near Paradise
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Paradise. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- PARADISE MIDDLE SCHOOLUnderground Storage Tanks · 750 ft
- THOMPSON SERVICEUnderground Storage Tanks · 1300 ft
- 11S 14W 07CAA 01Nitrate · 1800 ft
- 11S 14W 07CA 01Nitrate · 2100 ft
- 11S 14W 07CA 02Nitrate · 2100 ft
- 11S 15W 01CC 01Nitrate · 1.4 mi
- 11S 15W 10AC 01Nitrate · 2.8 mi
- 11S 15W 08DDA 01Nitrate · 4.5 mi
- FAA-QIR RCAGUnderground Storage Tanks · 5.3 mi
- 10S 15W 21ADA 01Nitrate · 5.6 mi
- 11S 13W 06DBC 01Nitrate · 6.0 mi
- 11S 13W 06DBB 01Nitrate · 6.0 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Paradise'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 Paradise.
Total Sites
48
within ~10 miles of Paradise
Risk Level
Low
Highest-severity
1 concentrated animal feeding operation
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Paradise
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Paradise
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Paradise, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 40 sites within ~10 miles of Paradise. That's not a problem with your land — it's information about 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 Paradise
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 Paradise average
Your land is one point inside Paradise
Everything above resolves to Paradise as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 158 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 Paradise Average
Paradise Average
- ●USDA Zones 6a, averaged across Paradise
- ●One soil character for all of Paradise
- ●Frost dates read at Paradise's scale: Apr 10 to Oct 26
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Paradise's 6a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Paradise
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Paradise, Kansas — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Paradise averages can't show:
We read public map data around Paradise — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Paradise average
How we know this about Paradise
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 Paradise’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 Paradise
When does frost risk typically end in Paradise?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Paradise typically lands around Apr 10, 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 1.
When is the first frost in Paradise?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Paradise 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 199 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Paradise?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Paradise sees about 199 frost-free days — roughly Apr 10 through Oct 26, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 1 to Oct 12, about 164 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Paradise?
The federal record around Paradise is light — 48 documented sites across the 9 federal source types we checked, mostly Nitrate entries (40), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.1 miles out — and proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard. Growing food here starts from a strong position; a soil test before new food beds settles any site-specific question.
How do I protect my plants from frost in Paradise?
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 Paradise's scale — its 6a band and its 199-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Paradise'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 Paradise’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Paradise's own scale — its own ~199-day season between 28°F freezes, the 158 acres it covers and 48 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Paradise's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Paradise's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 10 and Oct 26 and the ~199-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 48 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Paradise, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.1 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Paradise's boundary and the 158 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6a and a ~199-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Paradise's own centroid, the Central Great PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Paradise's 158 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Russell County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Russell 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 Russell County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Paradise's 158 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Paradise you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 158 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.1 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 Paradise-wide figureread your own land →
More in Kansas
Wider growing context
What grows across KansasParadise sits outside our named growing regions, so Kansas as a whole is its closest context here.