Donnelly, 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.
These conditions suit cabbage, cranberry, turkish rocket, and collard greens — a starting list any specific site will trim or extend with its own soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Donnelly, 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 Donnelly 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 Donnelly — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Donnelly — the short answer
Donnelly, Minnesota: USDA zone 4b, about 171 days between hard freezes, across 2K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 4b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 22
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 10
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~171
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- City area
- 2K 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 Donnelly's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Donnelly's 171-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Donnelly
Each reading below is measured for Donnelly itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredDonnelly runs about 171 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
MeasuredDonnelly 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 Donnelly is in
Donnelly sits in the Northern Glaciated Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Donnelly's own centroid rather than borrowed from Stevens County.
What Grows in Donnelly
Every plant below cleared Donnelly's own zone 4b and its 171-day season. Each card opens that plant's Minnesota profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Donnelly?
Rarely: the season closes in stages, not all at once, and each stage has its crops. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 25; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 22 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 10 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. The tail of the season still works: sixty-day crops into late summer, quick greens after, garlic last of all.
What's on the federal record near Donnelly
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Donnelly. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- 126N43W25CDA 01 Donnelly 3Nitrate · 550 ft
- DONNELLY COOPBrownfields · 600 ft
- 476598Nitrate · 0.7 mi
- 174616Nitrate · 2.9 mi
- 402636Nitrate · 3.5 mi
- MORRIS AUTO PLAZABrownfields · 5.1 mi
- 125N42W03DAD 01 G DickeyNitrate · 5.7 mi
- Donnelly CoopUnderground Storage Tanks · 5.9 mi
- Microwave Radio Station/donnellyUnderground Storage Tanks · 5.9 mi
- Hennen StandardUnderground Storage Tanks · 5.9 mi
- 151120Nitrate · 6.2 mi
- 174615Nitrate · 6.3 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Donnelly'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 Donnelly.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Donnelly
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Donnelly
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Donnelly, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Donnelly — CAFO (3 sites) and Nitrate (42 sites). That's not a problem with your land — it's information about it.
CAFO: CAFOs pose a different contamination profile than chemical sources.
Nitrate: Nitrate contamination primarily comes from agricultural fertilizer runoff and failing septic systems.
Wash all produce consumed raw thoroughly, especially leafy greens grown near CAFOs.
Test well water for nitrate if you rely on a private well for irrigation (EPA standard: 10 mg/L).
Check your specific parcel in Donnelly
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 Donnelly average
Your land is one point inside Donnelly
Everything above resolves to Donnelly as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 2K 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 Donnelly Average
Donnelly Average
- ●USDA Zones 4b, averaged across Donnelly
- ●One soil character for all of Donnelly
- ●Frost dates read at Donnelly's scale: Apr 22 to Oct 10
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Donnelly's 4b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Donnelly
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Donnelly, Minnesota — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Donnelly averages can't show:
We read public map data around Donnelly — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Donnelly average
How we know this about Donnelly
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 Donnelly’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 Donnelly
When does frost risk typically end in Donnelly?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Donnelly typically lands around Apr 22, 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 13.
When is the first frost in Donnelly?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Donnelly typically arrives around Oct 10, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 26, so the watching starts about Sep 10 — about 171 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Donnelly?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Donnelly sees about 171 frost-free days — roughly Apr 22 through Oct 10, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 13 to Sep 26, about 136 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Donnelly?
The federal record around Donnelly is a meaningful one — 123 documented sites, mostly Nitrate entries (42), the nearest Nitrate record about 0.1 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 Donnelly?
From about Sep 10 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 10 (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 10. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Donnelly's scale — its 4b band and its 171-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Donnelly'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 Donnelly’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Donnelly's own scale — its own ~171-day season between 28°F freezes, the 1,782 acres it covers and 123 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Donnelly's own USDA hardiness band, zones 4bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Donnelly's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 22 and Oct 10 and the ~171-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 123 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Donnelly, the closest Nitrate record about 0.1 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Donnelly's boundary and the 1,782 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 4b and a ~171-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Donnelly's own centroid, the Northern Glaciated PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Donnelly's 1,782 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Stevens County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Stevens 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 Stevens County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Donnelly's 1,782 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Donnelly you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,782 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Nitrate 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 Donnelly-wide figureread your own land →
More in Minnesota
Wider growing context
What grows across MinnesotaDonnelly sits outside our named growing regions, so Minnesota as a whole is its closest context here.