Hendron, Kentucky, sits in USDA hardiness zone 7a — enough range to grow cool-season vegetables, hardy fruit, and warm-season crops that mature before the first hard frost.
Well-matched crops include cabbage, hazelnut, california poppy, and collard greens, and the gap between "grows in the area" and "grows in your yard" is closed by soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Hendron, 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 Hendron 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 Hendron — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Hendron — the short answer
Hendron, Kentucky: USDA zone 7a, about 237 days between hard freezes, across 3K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 7a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Mar 20
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 12
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~237
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 3K 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 Hendron's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Hendron's 237-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Hendron
Each reading below is measured for Hendron itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredHendron runs about 237 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
MeasuredHendron 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 Hendron is in
Hendron sits in the Mississippi Valley Loess Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Hendron's own centroid rather than borrowed from McCracken County.
What Grows in Hendron
Every plant below cleared Hendron's own zone 7a and its 237-day season. Each card opens that plant's Kentucky profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Hendron?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. Cool-season crops can go in from around Feb 20; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Mar 20 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 12 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. Here the season winds down slowly: late sowings, a real autumn harvest, and garlic in the ground before the first hard freeze.
What's on the federal record near Hendron
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Hendron. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- McCracken Co School Bus GarageUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- Robo Car WashUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.0 mi
- Superway Inc #2901Underground Storage Tanks · 1.0 mi
- K Mart 3103Underground Storage Tanks · 1.0 mi
- Banks MarketUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.0 mi
- Classic CleanersUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.0 mi
- Five Star #7624Underground Storage Tanks · 1.0 mi
- Hardees Food StoreUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.1 mi
- Saint Mary High SchoolUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.1 mi
- Plaza TireUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.1 mi
- CVS PHARMACY #2586Brownfields · 1.1 mi
- SOUTHEASTERN FREIGHT LINESBrownfields · 1.1 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Hendron'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 Hendron.
Total Sites
568
within ~10 miles of Hendron
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
3 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Hendron
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Hendron
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Hendron, Underground Storage Tanks runs higher than the national average — 395 sites within ~10 miles of Hendron. It's not cause for alarm — it's worth knowing, and there's a sensible way to grow around it.
Underground Storage Tanks: Underground storage tanks are the single most common source of soil contamination near homes and gardens.
Use raised beds with imported soil — this eliminates the primary soil-contact pathway.
Check your specific parcel in Hendron
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 Hendron average
Your land is one point inside Hendron
Everything above resolves to Hendron as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 3K 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 town 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 Hendron Average
Hendron Average
- ●USDA Zones 7a, averaged across Hendron
- ●One soil character for all of Hendron
- ●Frost dates read at Hendron's scale: Mar 20 to Nov 12
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Hendron's 7a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Hendron
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Hendron, Kentucky — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Hendron averages can't show:
We read public map data around Hendron — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Hendron average
How we know this about Hendron
The datasets: hardiness from the USDA ARS Plant Hardiness Zone Map 2023, read at this town’s own centroid; hard-freeze dates from NOAA 1991–2020 28°F normals at Hendron’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 town grain anywhere on this page — there is no town-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 Hendron
When does frost risk typically end in Hendron?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Hendron typically lands around Mar 20, 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 10.
When is the first frost in Hendron?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Hendron typically arrives around Nov 12, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 29, so the watching starts about Oct 13 — about 237 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Hendron?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Hendron sees about 237 frost-free days — roughly Mar 20 through Nov 12, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Apr 10 to Oct 29, about 202 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Hendron?
The federal record around Hendron is a meaningful one — 568 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (395), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.7 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 Hendron?
From about Oct 13 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 12 (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 12. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Hendron's scale — its 7a band and its 237-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Hendron'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 Hendron’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Hendron's own scale — its own ~237-day season between 28°F freezes, the 3,418 acres it covers and 568 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Hendron's own USDA hardiness band, zones 7aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Hendron's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Mar 20 and Nov 12 and the ~237-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 568 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Hendron, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.7 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Hendron's boundary and the 3,418 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 7a and a ~237-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Hendron's own centroid, the Mississippi Valley Loess PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Hendron's 3,418 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom McCracken County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom McCracken County
- The growing challenges every Kentucky grower plans around — written at state scale, so they stay on the state guidefrom Kentucky
- Butterfly and beetle records, and the farmland pesticide estimate — all published county-widefrom McCracken County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Hendron's 3,418 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Hendron you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 3,418 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.7 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 Hendron-wide figureread your own land →