Hokah, Minnesota, sits in USDA hardiness zone 5a — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
On paper, cabbage, cranberry, lavender, and collard greens all suit these conditions — on the ground, soil, sun, and drainage make the final call.
Even in Hokah, 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 Hokah 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 Hokah — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Hokah — the short answer
Hokah, Minnesota: USDA zone 5a, about 194 days between hard freezes, across 447 acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 5a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 13
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 24
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~194
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- City area
- 447 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 5a is Hokah's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Hokah's 194-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Hokah
Each reading below is measured for Hokah itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredHokah runs about 194 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
MeasuredHokah sits in USDA hardiness zone 5a.
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 Hokah is in
Hokah sits in the Driftless Area — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Hokah's own centroid rather than borrowed from Houston County.
What Grows in Hokah
Every plant below cleared Hokah's own zone 5a and its 194-day season. Each card opens that plant's Minnesota profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Hokah?
For most of the year, no — what changes is which crops still fit the days remaining. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 16; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 13 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 24 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. Late in the year the fall bench takes over — quick greens, radishes, and garlic that repays you next summer.
What's on the federal record near Hokah
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Hokah. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- HOKAH COOP OIL ASSOCIATIONBrownfields · 750 ft
- Hokah Coop Oil AssociationUnderground Storage Tanks · 750 ft
- ARLIES AUTO SALESBrownfields · 1200 ft
- HOKAH CITY OF MAINTENANCE GARAGEBrownfields · 1500 ft
- 432374Nitrate · 1.5 mi
- Houston County DotUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.9 mi
- Kwik Trip #825Underground Storage Tanks · 2.9 mi
- Whla-tv/fmUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.3 mi
- MNDOT Dresbach Truck StationUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.1 mi
- Mndot District 6a Lacrescent DresbachUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.1 mi
- City Of La CrescentUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.1 mi
- Auto ConnectionUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.1 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Hokah'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 Hokah.
Total Sites
714
within ~10 miles of Hokah
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
3 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Hokah
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Hokah
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 Hokah
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 Hokah average
Your land is one point inside Hokah
Everything above resolves to Hokah as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 447 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 Hokah Average
Hokah Average
- ●USDA Zones 5a, averaged across Hokah
- ●One soil character for all of Hokah
- ●Frost dates read at Hokah's scale: Apr 13 to Oct 24
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Hokah's 5a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Hokah
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Hokah, Minnesota — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Hokah averages can't show:
We read public map data around Hokah — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Hokah average
How we know this about Hokah
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 Hokah’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 Hokah
When does frost risk typically end in Hokah?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Hokah typically lands around Apr 13, 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 4.
When is the first frost in Hokah?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Hokah typically arrives around Oct 24, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 10, so the watching starts about Sep 24 — about 194 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Hokah?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Hokah sees about 194 frost-free days — roughly Apr 13 through Oct 24, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 4 to Oct 10, about 159 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Hokah?
The federal record around Hokah is a meaningful one — 714 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (359), the nearest Brownfields 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 Hokah?
From about Sep 24 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 24 (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 24. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Hokah's scale — its 5a band and its 194-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Hokah'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 Hokah’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Hokah's own scale — its own ~194-day season between 28°F freezes, the 447 acres it covers and 714 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Hokah's own USDA hardiness band, zones 5aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Hokah's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 13 and Oct 24 and the ~194-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 714 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Hokah, the closest Brownfields record about 0.1 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Hokah's boundary and the 447 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 5a and a ~194-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Hokah's own centroid, the Driftless AreaUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Hokah's 447 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Houston County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Houston 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 Houston County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Hokah's 447 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Hokah you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 447 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 Hokah-wide figureread your own land →
More in Minnesota
Growing region
Nearby growing guides