Clearwater, Minnesota, sits in USDA hardiness zone 4b — 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 Clearwater, 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 Clearwater 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 Clearwater — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Clearwater — the short answer
Clearwater, Minnesota: USDA zone 4b, about 176 days between hard freezes, across 1K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 4b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 21
- 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
- ~176
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- City area
- 1K 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 4b is Clearwater's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Clearwater's 176-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Clearwater
Each reading below is measured for Clearwater itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredClearwater runs about 176 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
MeasuredClearwater sits in USDA hardiness zone 4b.
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 Clearwater is in
Clearwater sits in the North Central Hardwood Forests — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Clearwater's own centroid rather than borrowed from Wright County.
What Grows in Clearwater
Every plant below cleared Clearwater's own zone 4b and its 176-day season. Each card opens that plant's Minnesota profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Clearwater?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 24; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 21 (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 Clearwater
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Clearwater. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- MNDOT DISTRICT 3 - CLEARWATER TRUCK STATIONBrownfields · 350 ft
- BLAINE BROTHERS CLEARWATER HEATONBrownfields · 1700 ft
- CTC COMPLEXBrownfields · 1700 ft
- TO PLASTICSBrownfields · 1700 ft
- CLEARWATER MEDICAL CLINICBrownfields · 2000 ft
- CLEARWATER TRUCK CENTER INCBrownfields · 2000 ft
- CLEARWATER FAMILY AND SEDATION DENTISTRYBrownfields · 2300 ft
- Clearwater Travel PlazaUnderground Storage Tanks · 2500 ft
- Holiday Stationstore #254Underground Storage Tanks · 2500 ft
- CLEARWATER AUTOBODYBrownfields · 0.5 mi
- COBORN'S CLEARWATER 2008Brownfields · 0.5 mi
- CLEARWATER TIRE ONEBrownfields · 0.5 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Clearwater'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 Clearwater.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Clearwater
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Clearwater
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Clearwater, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 222 sites within ~10 miles of Clearwater. It's not cause for alarm — it's worth knowing, and there's a sensible way to grow around 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 Clearwater
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 Clearwater average
Your land is one point inside Clearwater
Everything above resolves to Clearwater as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 1K 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 Clearwater Average
Clearwater Average
- ●USDA Zones 4b, averaged across Clearwater
- ●One soil character for all of Clearwater
- ●Frost dates read at Clearwater's scale: Apr 21 to Oct 14
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Clearwater's 4b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Clearwater
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Clearwater, Minnesota — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Clearwater averages can't show:
We read public map data around Clearwater — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Clearwater average
How we know this about Clearwater
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 Clearwater’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 Clearwater
When does frost risk typically end in Clearwater?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Clearwater typically lands around Apr 21, 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 12.
When is the first frost in Clearwater?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Clearwater 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 176 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Clearwater?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Clearwater sees about 176 frost-free days — roughly Apr 21 through Oct 14, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 12 to Sep 30, about 141 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Clearwater?
The federal record around Clearwater is a meaningful one — 432 documented sites, mostly Nitrate entries (222), the nearest Brownfields 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 Clearwater?
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 Clearwater's scale — its 4b band and its 176-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Clearwater'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 Clearwater’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Clearwater's own scale — its own ~176-day season between 28°F freezes, the 1,144 acres it covers and 432 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Clearwater's own USDA hardiness band, zones 4bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Clearwater's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 21 and Oct 14 and the ~176-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 432 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Clearwater, the closest Brownfields record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Clearwater's boundary and the 1,144 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 4b and a ~176-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Clearwater's own centroid, the North Central Hardwood ForestsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Clearwater's 1,144 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Wright County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Wright 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 Wright County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Clearwater's 1,144 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Clearwater you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,144 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Brownfields 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 Clearwater-wide figureread your own land →
More in Minnesota
Wider growing context
What grows across MinnesotaClearwater sits outside our named growing regions, so Minnesota as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides