Greenbush, Minnesota, sits in USDA hardiness zone 3b — a band that supports both cool-season staples and warm-season crops chosen to fit the local frost window.
The conditions favor cabbage, cranberry, turkish rocket, and collard greens, among others — though every individual site edits that list with its own soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Greenbush, 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 Greenbush 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 Greenbush — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Greenbush — the short answer
Greenbush, Minnesota: USDA zone 3b, about 153 days between hard freezes, across 983 acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 3b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 5
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 5
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~153
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- City area
- 983 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 Greenbush's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Greenbush's 153-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Greenbush
Each reading below is measured for Greenbush itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredGreenbush runs about 153 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
MeasuredGreenbush 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 Greenbush is in
Greenbush sits in the Lake Agassiz Plain — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Greenbush's own centroid, and it is not what its county reads: Roseau County is mostly Northern Minnesota Wetlands. The wider page above you is answering a different question about different ground.
What Grows in Greenbush
Every plant below cleared Greenbush's own zone 3b and its 153-day season. Each card opens that plant's Minnesota profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Greenbush?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. Cool-season crops can go in from around Apr 7; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 5 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 5 — 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 Greenbush
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Greenbush. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- Lowell's Auto ServiceUnderground Storage Tanks · 100 ft
- Jons Auto ServiceUnderground Storage Tanks · 700 ft
- LIFECARE MEDICAL CENTER GREENBrownfields · 900 ft
- CHS NORTHWEST GRAINBrownfields · 1000 ft
- TOM'S BODY SHOP - GREENBUSHBrownfields · 1400 ft
- JEFFS SUPER SERVICEBrownfields · 1800 ft
- DOLLAR GENERAL 19031Brownfields · 2100 ft
- JON'S AUTO SALVAGE INCBrownfields · 2100 ft
- 160N43W10CAC 01 Greenbush 2Nitrate · 2100 ft
- ISD 678 GREENBURG BUS GARAGEBrownfields · 0.5 mi
- 160N43W10CDD 01 Greenbush 1Nitrate · 0.6 mi
- GREENBUSH VETERINARY CLINICBrownfields · 0.7 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Greenbush'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 Greenbush.
Total Sites
44
within ~10 miles of Greenbush
Risk Level
Low
Highest-severity
1 Toxics Release Inventory facility
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Greenbush
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Greenbush
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Greenbush, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 22 sites within ~10 miles of Greenbush. 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 Greenbush
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 Greenbush average
Your land is one point inside Greenbush
Everything above resolves to Greenbush as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 983 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 Greenbush Average
Greenbush Average
- ●USDA Zones 3b, averaged across Greenbush
- ●One soil character for all of Greenbush
- ●Frost dates read at Greenbush's scale: May 5 to Oct 5
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Greenbush's 3b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Greenbush
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Greenbush, Minnesota — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Greenbush averages can't show:
We read public map data around Greenbush — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Greenbush average
How we know this about Greenbush
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 Greenbush’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 Greenbush
When does frost risk typically end in Greenbush?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Greenbush typically lands around May 5, 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 26.
When is the first frost in Greenbush?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Greenbush typically arrives around Oct 5, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 21, so the watching starts about Sep 5 — about 153 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Greenbush?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Greenbush sees about 153 frost-free days — roughly May 5 through Oct 5, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 26 to Sep 21, about 118 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Greenbush?
The federal record around Greenbush is light — 44 documented sites across the 9 federal source types we checked, mostly Nitrate entries (22), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile 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 Greenbush?
From about Sep 5 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 5 (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 5. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Greenbush's scale — its 3b band and its 153-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Greenbush'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 Greenbush’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Greenbush's own scale — its own ~153-day season between 28°F freezes, the 983 acres it covers and 44 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Greenbush's own USDA hardiness band, zones 3bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Greenbush's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 5 and Oct 5 and the ~153-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 44 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Greenbush, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Greenbush's boundary and the 983 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 3b and a ~153-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- Greenbush sits in the Lake Agassiz Plain — not the ecoregion its county mostly readsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Greenbush's 983 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Roseau County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Roseau 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 Roseau County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Greenbush's 983 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Greenbush you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 983 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks 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 Greenbush-wide figureread your own land →
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