Ely, Minnesota, sits in USDA hardiness zone 3b — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
Expect cabbage, cranberry, epazote, and collard greens to be strong candidates here; the deciding factors on any one parcel stay local — soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Ely, 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 Ely 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 Ely — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Ely — the short answer
Ely, Minnesota: USDA zone 3b, about 148 days between hard freezes, across 2K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 3b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 11
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 6
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~148
- 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 3b is Ely's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Ely's 148-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Ely
Each reading below is measured for Ely itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredEly runs about 148 days between hard freezes — a short growing season.
Long-maturing crops like melons, sweet potatoes, and winter squash can run out of runway before the first hard freeze, ripening late or not at all.
Lead with fast-maturing varieties, and stretch the season on both ends with cold frames, low tunnels, or a greenhouse.
NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Winter hardiness
MeasuredEly 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 Ely is in
Ely sits in the Northern Lakes and Forests — EPA Level III, inside the wider Northern Forests. That is read at Ely's own centroid rather than borrowed from St. Louis County.
What Grows in Ely
Every plant below cleared Ely's own zone 3b and its 148-day season. Each card opens that plant's Minnesota profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Ely?
For most of the year, no — what changes is which crops still fit the days remaining. Cool-season crops can go in from around Apr 13; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 11 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 6 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. Even here the calendar’s edges hold value: thirty-day greens late in the window, then garlic and a rested bed for spring.
What's on the federal record near Ely
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Ely. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- NORTHWOODS COLLISION CENTERBrownfields · 750 ft
- Holiday Stationstore #144Underground Storage Tanks · 1000 ft
- MIKE MOTORSBrownfields · 1100 ft
- PHIL HEGFORS & SONBrownfields · 1300 ft
- Boundary Waters State BankUnderground Storage Tanks · 2000 ft
- ESSENTIA HEALTH ELY PHARMACYBrownfields · 2000 ft
- Parkside Gas Inc-Edwards OilUnderground Storage Tanks · 2000 ft
- SCUFSA INCBrownfields · 2500 ft
- JFK ELEMENTARY SCHOOLBrownfields · 2600 ft
- Louis Leustek & Sons Inc - NonmetallicUnderground Storage Tanks · 2600 ft
- LOUIS LEUSTEK & SONS INC - METALLICBrownfields · 0.5 mi
- Independent School District #696Underground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Ely'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 Ely.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Ely
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Ely
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Ely, Brownfields runs higher than the national average — 43 sites within ~10 miles of Ely. It's not cause for alarm — it's worth knowing, and there's a sensible way to grow around it.
Brownfields: Brownfield sites are former commercial or industrial properties where legacy soil contamination (heavy metals, PAHs, petroleum compounds) may persist.
Check EPA brownfield remediation status — many sites have completed cleanup with institutional controls.
Check your specific parcel in Ely
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 Ely average
Your land is one point inside Ely
Everything above resolves to Ely 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 Ely Average
Ely Average
- ●USDA Zones 3b, averaged across Ely
- ●One soil character for all of Ely
- ●Frost dates read at Ely's scale: May 11 to Oct 6
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Ely's 3b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Ely
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Ely, Minnesota — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Ely averages can't show:
We read public map data around Ely — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Ely average
How we know this about Ely
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 Ely’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 Ely
When does frost risk typically end in Ely?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Ely typically lands around May 11, 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 Jun 1.
When is the first frost in Ely?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Ely typically arrives around Oct 6, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 22, so the watching starts about Sep 6 — about 148 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Ely?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Ely sees about 148 frost-free days — roughly May 11 through Oct 6, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Jun 1 to Sep 22, about 113 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Ely?
The federal record around Ely shows 88 documented sites, mostly Brownfields entries (43), the nearest Brownfields record about 0.1 miles out — a typical footprint for a growing area, and proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard. It's worth seeing which recorded sites sit closest to where you grow, and testing the soil before new food beds near any of them.
How do gardeners stretch the season in Ely?
With about 148 frost-free days between hard freezes, Ely rewards the classic extension moves: floating row cover buys roughly two to four extra weeks at each shoulder — on this season that is a working window nearer 176 to 204 days — and cold frames or low tunnels buy more. Starting transplants indoors ahead of the May 11 hard-freeze normal stretches the season without touching the calendar.
Everything above is measured at Ely's scale — its 3b band and its 148-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Ely'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 Ely’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Ely's own scale — its own ~148-day season between 28°F freezes, the 1,871 acres it covers and 88 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Ely's own USDA hardiness band, zones 3bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Ely's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 11 and Oct 6 and the ~148-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 88 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Ely, the closest Brownfields record about 0.1 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Ely's boundary and the 1,871 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 3b and a ~148-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Ely'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 Ely's 1,871 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom St. Louis County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom St. Louis 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 St. Louis County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Ely's 1,871 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Ely you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,871 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Brownfields 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 Ely-wide figureread your own land →
More in Minnesota
Wider growing context
What grows across MinnesotaEly sits outside our named growing regions, so Minnesota as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides