Leonard, 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 Leonard, 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 Leonard 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 Leonard — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Leonard — the short answer
Leonard, Minnesota: USDA zone 3b, about 154 days between hard freezes, across 296 acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 3b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 6
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 7
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~154
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- City area
- 296 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 Leonard's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Leonard's 154-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Leonard
Each reading below is measured for Leonard itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredLeonard runs about 154 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
MeasuredLeonard 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 Leonard is in
Leonard sits in the North Central Hardwood Forests — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Leonard's own centroid, and it is not what its county reads: Clearwater County is mostly Northern Lakes and Forests. The wider page above you is answering a different question about different ground.
What Grows in Leonard
Every plant below cleared Leonard's own zone 3b and its 154-day season. Each card opens that plant's Minnesota profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Leonard?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. Cool-season crops can go in from around Apr 8; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 6 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 7 — 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 Leonard
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Leonard. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- Monson Oil CoUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.5 mi
- Clearwater County Highway DeptUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.5 mi
- MM13 148N36W34AAAAAA01 0000243205Nitrate · 3.7 mi
- MM12 148N36W33BCBCCA01 0000243204Nitrate · 4.4 mi
- GREAT LAKES GAS TRANSMISSION - SHEVLIN COMPRESSOR STATION 3Brownfields · 5.1 mi
- 516075Nitrate · 7.0 mi
- Camp Itasca StoreUnderground Storage Tanks · 7.3 mi
- Ekre TruckingUnderground Storage Tanks · 7.3 mi
- Village Cafe And GasUnderground Storage Tanks · 7.3 mi
- Thompson Gravel PitUnderground Storage Tanks · 7.3 mi
- ENBRIDGE ENERGY LIMITED PARTNERSHIP - CLEARBROOK TERMINALBrownfields · 7.4 mi
- 147.36.21.ABA SHEVLIN NORTHNitrate · 7.4 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Leonard'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 Leonard.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Leonard
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Leonard
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Leonard, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 26 sites within ~10 miles of Leonard. That's not a problem with your land — it's information about 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 Leonard
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 Leonard average
Your land is one point inside Leonard
Everything above resolves to Leonard as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 296 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 Leonard Average
Leonard Average
- ●USDA Zones 3b, averaged across Leonard
- ●One soil character for all of Leonard
- ●Frost dates read at Leonard's scale: May 6 to Oct 7
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Leonard's 3b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Leonard
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Leonard, Minnesota — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Leonard averages can't show:
We read public map data around Leonard — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Leonard average
How we know this about Leonard
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 Leonard’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 Leonard
When does frost risk typically end in Leonard?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Leonard typically lands around May 6, 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 27.
When is the first frost in Leonard?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Leonard typically arrives around Oct 7, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 23, so the watching starts about Sep 7 — about 154 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Leonard?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Leonard sees about 154 frost-free days — roughly May 6 through Oct 7, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 27 to Sep 23, about 119 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Leonard?
The federal record around Leonard is light — 46 documented sites across the 9 federal source types we checked, mostly Nitrate entries (26), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 3.5 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 I protect my plants from frost in Leonard?
From about Sep 7 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 7 (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 7. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Leonard's scale — its 3b band and its 154-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Leonard'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 Leonard’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Leonard's own scale — its own ~154-day season between 28°F freezes, the 296 acres it covers and 46 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Leonard's own USDA hardiness band, zones 3bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Leonard's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 6 and Oct 7 and the ~154-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 46 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Leonard, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 3.5 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Leonard's boundary and the 296 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 3b and a ~154-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- Leonard sits in the North Central Hardwood Forests — not the ecoregion its county mostly readsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Leonard's 296 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Clearwater County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Clearwater 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 Clearwater County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Leonard's 296 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Leonard you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 296 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 3.5 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 Leonard-wide figureread your own land →
More in Minnesota
Wider growing context
What grows across MinnesotaLeonard sits outside our named growing regions, so Minnesota as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides