Rush City, Minnesota, sits in USDA hardiness zone 4b — room for a real mix of vegetables, fruit, and perennials matched to the local frost calendar.
These conditions suit cabbage, cranberry, turkish rocket, and collard greens — a starting list any specific site will trim or extend with its own soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Rush City, 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 Rush City 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 Rush City — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Rush City — the short answer
Rush City, Minnesota: USDA zone 4b, about 164 days between hard freezes, across 3K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 4b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 30
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 11
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~164
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- City area
- 3K 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 4b is Rush City's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Rush City's 164-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Rush City
Each reading below is measured for Rush City itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredRush City runs about 164 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
MeasuredRush City sits in USDA hardiness zone 4b.
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 Rush City is in
Rush City sits in the North Central Hardwood Forests — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Rush City's own centroid rather than borrowed from Chisago County.
What Grows in Rush City
Every plant below cleared Rush City's own zone 4b and its 164-day season. Each card opens that plant's Minnesota profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Rush City?
Rarely: the season closes in stages, not all at once, and each stage has its crops. Cool-season crops can go in from around Apr 2; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 30 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 11 — 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 Rush City
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Rush City. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- HORIZON MILLING LLC - RUSH CITYBrownfields · 750 ft
- Rush City School Bus GarageUnderground Storage Tanks · 800 ft
- EAST CENTRAL TIREBrownfields · 950 ft
- Federated Co-opUnderground Storage Tanks · 1000 ft
- JOHNSON'S AUTO REPAIRBrownfields · 1000 ft
- Schneider Chevrolet BuickUnderground Storage Tanks · 1100 ft
- RUSH PRINTINGBrownfields · 1300 ft
- ISD 139 RUSH CITY JACOBSON ELEMENTARYBrownfields · 1700 ft
- POLARIS PHARMACY (LTCF-HHW) ESTATES AT RUSH CITYBrownfields · 1900 ft
- WILLIAM HE KIEPER DDS PABrownfields · 2500 ft
- PERRY'S AUTO SALON LLCBrownfields · 0.5 mi
- LAKE STATE REPAIR LLCBrownfields · 0.7 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Rush City'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 Rush City.
Total Sites
199
within ~10 miles of Rush City
Risk Level
Moderate
Highest-severity
5 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Rush City
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Rush City
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Rush City, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 94 sites within ~10 miles of Rush City. Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
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 Rush City
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 Rush City average
Your land is one point inside Rush City
Everything above resolves to Rush City as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 3K 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 Rush City Average
Rush City Average
- ●USDA Zones 4b, averaged across Rush City
- ●One soil character for all of Rush City
- ●Frost dates read at Rush City's scale: Apr 30 to Oct 11
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Rush City's 4b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Rush City
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Rush City, Minnesota — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Rush City averages can't show:
We read public map data around Rush City — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Rush City average
How we know this about Rush City
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 Rush City’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 Rush City
When does frost risk typically end in Rush City?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Rush City typically lands around Apr 30, 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 21.
When is the first frost in Rush City?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Rush City typically arrives around Oct 11, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 27, so the watching starts about Sep 11 — about 164 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Rush City?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Rush City sees about 164 frost-free days — roughly Apr 30 through Oct 11, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 21 to Sep 27, about 129 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Rush City?
The federal record around Rush City shows 199 documented sites, mostly Nitrate entries (94), the nearest Brownfields record about 0.1 miles out — a typical footprint for a growing area, and proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard. It's worth seeing which recorded sites sit closest to where you grow, and testing the soil before new food beds near any of them.
How do I protect my plants from frost in Rush City?
From about Sep 11 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 11 (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 11. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Rush City's scale — its 4b band and its 164-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Rush City'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 Rush City’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Rush City's own scale — its own ~164-day season between 28°F freezes, the 2,720 acres it covers and 199 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Rush City's own USDA hardiness band, zones 4bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Rush City's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 30 and Oct 11 and the ~164-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 199 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Rush City, the closest Brownfields record about 0.1 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Rush City's boundary and the 2,720 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 4b and a ~164-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Rush City's own centroid, the North Central Hardwood ForestsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Rush City's 2,720 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Chisago County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Chisago 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 Chisago County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Rush City's 2,720 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Rush City you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 2,720 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 Rush City-wide figureread your own land →
More in Minnesota
Wider growing context
What grows across MinnesotaRush City sits outside our named growing regions, so Minnesota as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides