Orr, Minnesota, sits in USDA hardiness zone 3b — room for a real mix of vegetables, fruit, and perennials matched to the local frost calendar.
These conditions suit cabbage, cranberry, epazote, and collard greens — a starting list any specific site will trim or extend with its own soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Orr, 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 Orr 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 Orr — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Orr — the short answer
Orr, Minnesota: USDA zone 3b, about 134 days between hard freezes, across 897 acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 3b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 16
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Sep 27
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~134
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- City area
- 897 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 Orr's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Orr's 134-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Orr
Each reading below is measured for Orr itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredOrr runs about 134 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
MeasuredOrr 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 Orr is in
Orr sits in the Northern Lakes and Forests — EPA Level III, inside the wider Northern Forests. That is read at Orr's own centroid rather than borrowed from St. Louis County.
What Grows in Orr
Every plant below cleared Orr's own zone 3b and its 134-day season. Each card opens that plant's Minnesota profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Orr?
Too late for some crops, right on time for others — a growing season is a sequence, not a deadline. Cool-season crops can go in from around Apr 18; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 16 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Sep 27 — 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 Orr
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Orr. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- Kabetogama DistrictUnderground Storage Tanks · 1400 ft
- Orr Area - ForestryUnderground Storage Tanks · 1400 ft
- Gateway HotelUnderground Storage Tanks · 2600 ft
- Norman's One StopUnderground Storage Tanks · 2600 ft
- Pelican Bay FoodsUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- ISD 2142 - ORR HIGH SCHOOLBrownfields · 0.5 mi
- WALLYS AUTO SERVICEBrownfields · 0.6 mi
- 532244Nitrate · 0.9 mi
- Orr Regional AirportUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.1 mi
- THOMAS LONG & SON TRUCKINGBrownfields · 3.2 mi
- 540230Nitrate · 4.1 mi
- GLENDALE SALE AND SERVICEBrownfields · 4.4 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Orr'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 Orr.
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Orr
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 Orr
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 Orr average
Your land is one point inside Orr
Everything above resolves to Orr as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 897 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 Orr Average
Orr Average
- ●USDA Zones 3b, averaged across Orr
- ●One soil character for all of Orr
- ●Frost dates read at Orr's scale: May 16 to Sep 27
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Orr's 3b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Orr
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Orr, Minnesota — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Orr averages can't show:
We read public map data around Orr — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Orr average
How we know this about Orr
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 Orr’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 Orr
When does frost risk typically end in Orr?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Orr typically lands around May 16, 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 6.
When is the first frost in Orr?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Orr typically arrives around Sep 27, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 13, so the watching starts about Aug 28 — about 134 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Orr?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Orr sees about 134 frost-free days — roughly May 16 through Sep 27, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Jun 6 to Sep 13, about 99 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Orr?
The federal record around Orr is light — 24 documented sites across the 9 federal source types we checked, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (12), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.3 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 Orr?
With about 134 frost-free days between hard freezes, Orr 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 162 to 190 days — and cold frames or low tunnels buy more. Starting transplants indoors ahead of the May 16 hard-freeze normal stretches the season without touching the calendar.
Everything above is measured at Orr's scale — its 3b band and its 134-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Orr'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 Orr’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Orr's own scale — its own ~134-day season between 28°F freezes, the 897 acres it covers and 24 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Orr's own USDA hardiness band, zones 3bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Orr's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 16 and Sep 27 and the ~134-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 24 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Orr, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.3 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Orr's boundary and the 897 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 3b and a ~134-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Orr'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 Orr's 897 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 Orr's 897 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Orr you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 897 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.3 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 Orr-wide figureread your own land →
More in Minnesota
Wider growing context
What grows across MinnesotaOrr sits outside our named growing regions, so Minnesota as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides