Bena, Minnesota, sits in USDA hardiness zone 3b — enough range to grow cool-season vegetables, hardy fruit, and warm-season crops that mature before the first hard frost.
Reliable performers under these conditions include cabbage, cranberry, turkish rocket, and collard greens; what your own ground favors still comes down to its soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Bena, 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 Bena 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 Bena — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Bena — the short answer
Bena, Minnesota: USDA zone 3b, about 165 days between hard freezes, across 323 acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 3b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 2
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 14
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~165
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- City area
- 323 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 3b is Bena's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Bena's 165-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Bena
Each reading below is measured for Bena itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredBena runs about 165 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
MeasuredBena sits in USDA hardiness zone 3b.
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 Bena is in
Bena sits in the Northern Lakes and Forests — EPA Level III, inside the wider Northern Forests. That is read at Bena's own centroid rather than borrowed from Cass County.
What Grows in Bena
Every plant below cleared Bena's own zone 3b and its 165-day season. Each card opens that plant's Minnesota profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Bena?
Too late for some crops, right on time for others — a growing season is a sequence, not a deadline. Cool-season crops can go in from around Apr 4; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 2 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 14 — 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 Bena
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Bena. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- Mcardles ResortUnderground Storage Tanks · 800 ft
- Hi Way MobilUnderground Storage Tanks · 1700 ft
- Big Winnie StoreUnderground Storage Tanks · 2200 ft
- Four Seasons ResortUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.6 mi
- Winnibigoshish ResortUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.6 mi
- Johnson Lumber CoUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.6 mi
- Riverside Quick StopUnderground Storage Tanks · 6.5 mi
- FLUS-03 145N29W08CDCC 01 0000243228Nitrate · 9.0 mi
- Montes GarageUnderground Storage Tanks · 9.4 mi
- Tonga Boat LaunchUnderground Storage Tanks · 9.4 mi
Measured from Bena'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 Bena.
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Bena
Highest-Severity Sites
Know Before You Grow
- •Underground tanks leak petroleum as they age — near a former filling station, test the soil.
- •On a private well, test for nitrates: above 10 mg/L the water needs treatment before irrigating.
Check your specific parcel in Bena
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 Bena average
Your land is one point inside Bena
Everything above resolves to Bena as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 323 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 Bena Average
Bena Average
- ●USDA Zones 3b, averaged across Bena
- ●One soil character for all of Bena
- ●Frost dates read at Bena's scale: May 2 to Oct 14
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Bena's 3b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Bena
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Bena, Minnesota — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Bena averages can't show:
We read public map data around Bena — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Bena average
How we know this about Bena
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 Bena’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 Bena
When does frost risk typically end in Bena?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Bena typically lands around May 2, 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 23.
When is the first frost in Bena?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Bena typically arrives around Oct 14, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 30, so the watching starts about Sep 14 — about 165 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Bena?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Bena sees about 165 frost-free days — roughly May 2 through Oct 14, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 23 to Sep 30, about 130 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Bena?
The federal record around Bena is light — 11 documented sites across the 9 federal source types we checked, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (9), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks 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 Bena?
From about Sep 14 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 14 (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 14. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Bena's scale — its 3b band and its 165-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Bena'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 Bena’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Bena's own scale — its own ~165-day season between 28°F freezes, the 323 acres it covers and 11 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Bena's own USDA hardiness band, zones 3bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Bena's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 2 and Oct 14 and the ~165-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 11 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Bena, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Bena's boundary and the 323 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 3b and a ~165-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Bena's own centroid, the Northern Lakes and ForestsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Bena's 323 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Cass County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Cass County
- The growing challenges every Minnesota grower plans around — written at state scale, so they stay on the state guidefrom Minnesota
- Butterfly and beetle records, and the farmland pesticide estimate — all published county-widefrom Cass County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Bena's 323 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Bena you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 323 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks 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 Bena-wide figureread your own land →
More in Minnesota
Wider growing context
What grows across MinnesotaBena sits outside our named growing regions, so Minnesota as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides