Floodwood, Minnesota, sits in USDA hardiness zone 4a — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
Among the crops suited to this profile: cabbage, cranberry, cilantro, and collard greens. The site-level story — soil, sun, drainage — decides the rest.
Even in Floodwood, 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 Floodwood 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 Floodwood — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Floodwood — the short answer
Floodwood, Minnesota: USDA zone 4a, about 147 days between hard freezes, across 1K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 4a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 8
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 2
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~147
- 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 4a is Floodwood's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Floodwood's 147-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Floodwood
Each reading below is measured for Floodwood itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredFloodwood runs about 147 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
MeasuredFloodwood sits in USDA hardiness zone 4a.
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 Floodwood is in
Floodwood sits in the Northern Lakes and Forests — EPA Level III, inside the wider Northern Forests. That is read at Floodwood's own centroid rather than borrowed from St. Louis County.
What Grows in Floodwood
Every plant below cleared Floodwood's own zone 4a and its 147-day season. Each card opens that plant's Minnesota profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Floodwood?
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 10; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 8 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 2 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. When the window is tight, the fall moves are quick ones — baby greens, radishes, and garlic set for next season.
What's on the federal record near Floodwood
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Floodwood. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- Former Gas StationUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.0 mi
- Minit Mart #548Underground Storage Tanks · 1.0 mi
- Northern Tier Retail dba SuperAmerica #5036Underground Storage Tanks · 1.0 mi
- FLOODWOOD AUTO PARTS & REPAIRBrownfields · 1.2 mi
- Shipley Property (Former Garage)Underground Storage Tanks · 1.2 mi
- Suonvieri TruckingUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.2 mi
- Tims Warehouse CafeUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.2 mi
- Floodwood City GarageUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.2 mi
- Continental Telephone Co/floodwoodUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.2 mi
- SCENIC RIVERS HEALTH SERVICES FLOODWOODBrownfields · 1.2 mi
- Larry's Bait and ServiceUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.3 mi
- SAINT LOUIS COUNTY FLOODWOODBrownfields · 1.3 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Floodwood'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 Floodwood.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Floodwood
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Floodwood
Highest-Severity Sites
Know Before You Grow
- •Underground tanks leak petroleum as they age — near a former filling station, test the soil.
- •Near a brownfield, raised beds of imported soil give your food clean ground.
- •On a private well, test for nitrates: above 10 mg/L the water needs treatment before irrigating.
Check your specific parcel in Floodwood
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 Floodwood average
Your land is one point inside Floodwood
Everything above resolves to Floodwood 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 Floodwood Average
Floodwood Average
- ●USDA Zones 4a, averaged across Floodwood
- ●One soil character for all of Floodwood
- ●Frost dates read at Floodwood's scale: May 8 to Oct 2
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Floodwood's 4a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Floodwood
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Floodwood, Minnesota — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Floodwood averages can't show:
We read public map data around Floodwood — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Floodwood average
How we know this about Floodwood
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 Floodwood’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 Floodwood
When does frost risk typically end in Floodwood?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Floodwood typically lands around May 8, 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 29.
When is the first frost in Floodwood?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Floodwood typically arrives around Oct 2, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 18, so the watching starts about Sep 2 — about 147 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Floodwood?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Floodwood sees about 147 frost-free days — roughly May 8 through Oct 2, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 29 to Sep 18, about 112 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Floodwood?
The federal record around Floodwood is light — 30 documented sites across the 9 federal source types we checked, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (14), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 1.0 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 gardeners stretch the season in Floodwood?
With about 147 frost-free days between hard freezes, Floodwood 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 175 to 203 days — and cold frames or low tunnels buy more. Starting transplants indoors ahead of the May 8 hard-freeze normal stretches the season without touching the calendar.
Everything above is measured at Floodwood's scale — its 4a band and its 147-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Floodwood'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 Floodwood’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Floodwood's own scale — its own ~147-day season between 28°F freezes, the 1,108 acres it covers and 30 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Floodwood's own USDA hardiness band, zones 4aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Floodwood's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 8 and Oct 2 and the ~147-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 30 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Floodwood, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 1.0 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Floodwood's boundary and the 1,108 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 4a and a ~147-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Floodwood'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 Floodwood's 1,108 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 Floodwood's 1,108 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Floodwood you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,108 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 1.0 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 Floodwood-wide figureread your own land →
More in Minnesota
Wider growing context
What grows across MinnesotaFloodwood sits outside our named growing regions, so Minnesota as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides