Russell Springs, Kansas, sits in USDA hardiness zone 6a — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
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 Russell Springs, 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 Russell Springs 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 Russell Springs — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Russell Springs — the short answer
Russell Springs, Kansas: USDA zone 6a, about 188 days between hard freezes, across 452 acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 6a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 16
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 21
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~188
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- City area
- 452 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 Russell Springs's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Russell Springs's 188-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Russell Springs
Each reading below is measured for Russell Springs itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredRussell Springs runs about 188 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
MeasuredRussell Springs 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 Russell Springs is in
Russell Springs sits in the Central Great Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Russell Springs's own centroid, and it is not what its county reads: Logan County is mostly High Plains. The wider page above you is answering a different question about different ground.
What Grows in Russell Springs
Every plant below cleared Russell Springs's own zone 6a and its 188-day season. Each card opens that plant's Kansas profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Russell Springs?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 19; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 16 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 21 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. Even past midsummer there is room for a true fall garden here, and garlic planted near the close carries the momentum into next year.
What's on the federal record near Russell Springs
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Russell Springs. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- 13S 35W 23ACD 01Nitrate · 1000 ft
- LOGAN COUNTY ENGINEER SHOPUnderground Storage Tanks · 1700 ft
- 13S 35W 23DAC 01Nitrate · 2400 ft
- 13S 35W 15DDC 01Nitrate · 0.8 mi
- 13S 35W 25BBB 01Nitrate · 0.9 mi
- BOUZIDEN RANCHUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.9 mi
- 13S 35W 16AB 01Nitrate · 2.2 mi
- 13S 34W 29BD 01Nitrate · 3.0 mi
- 14S 35W 17BCA 01Nitrate · 6.0 mi
- 12S 34W 34BAA 01Nitrate · 6.5 mi
- 13S 34W 02DD 01Nitrate · 6.8 mi
- 12S 34W 35DCC 01Nitrate · 6.9 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Russell Springs'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 Russell Springs.
Total Sites
42
within ~10 miles of Russell Springs
Risk Level
Low
Highest-severity
40 nitrate monitoring sites
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Russell Springs
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Russell Springs, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 40 sites within ~10 miles of Russell Springs. 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 Russell Springs
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 Russell Springs average
Your land is one point inside Russell Springs
Everything above resolves to Russell Springs as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 452 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 Russell Springs Average
Russell Springs Average
- ●USDA Zones 6a, averaged across Russell Springs
- ●One soil character for all of Russell Springs
- ●Frost dates read at Russell Springs's scale: Apr 16 to Oct 21
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Russell Springs's 6a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Russell Springs
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Russell Springs, Kansas — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Russell Springs averages can't show:
We read public map data around Russell Springs — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Russell Springs average
How we know this about Russell Springs
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 Russell Springs’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 Russell Springs
When does frost risk typically end in Russell Springs?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Russell Springs typically lands around Apr 16, 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 7.
When is the first frost in Russell Springs?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Russell Springs typically arrives around Oct 21, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 7, so the watching starts about Sep 21 — about 188 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Russell Springs?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Russell Springs sees about 188 frost-free days — roughly Apr 16 through Oct 21, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 7 to Oct 7, about 153 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Russell Springs?
The federal record around Russell Springs is light — 42 documented sites across the 9 federal source types we checked, mostly Nitrate entries (40), the nearest Nitrate record about 0.2 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 Russell Springs?
From about Sep 21 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 21 (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 21. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Russell Springs's scale — its 6a band and its 188-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Russell Springs'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 Russell Springs’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Russell Springs's own scale — its own ~188-day season between 28°F freezes, the 452 acres it covers and 42 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Russell Springs's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Russell Springs's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 16 and Oct 21 and the ~188-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 42 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Russell Springs, the closest Nitrate record about 0.2 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Russell Springs's boundary and the 452 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6a and a ~188-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- Russell Springs sits in the Central Great Plains — not the ecoregion its county mostly readsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Russell Springs's 452 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Logan County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Logan 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 Logan County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Russell Springs's 452 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Russell Springs you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 452 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Nitrate 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 Russell Springs-wide figureread your own land →
More in Kansas
Wider growing context
What grows across KansasRussell Springs sits outside our named growing regions, so Kansas as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides