Appleton City, Missouri, sits in USDA hardiness zone 6b — room for a real mix of vegetables, fruit, and perennials matched to the local frost calendar.
Expect cabbage, hazelnut, lavender, and collard greens to be strong candidates here; the deciding factors on any one parcel stay local — soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Appleton 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 Appleton 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 Appleton City — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Appleton City — the short answer
Appleton City, Missouri: USDA zone 6b, about 225 days between hard freezes, across 735 acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 6b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Mar 27
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 7
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~225
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- City area
- 735 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 6b is Appleton City's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Appleton City's 225-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Appleton City
Each reading below is measured for Appleton City itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredAppleton City runs about 225 days between hard freezes — a long growing season.
There is slack for succession plantings and slow-finishing crops: many vegetables can be sown twice, and the heat-lovers have time to ripen fully.
Plan a second sowing of quick crops after the first comes out, and use the fall window most gardeners let sit idle.
NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Winter hardiness
MeasuredAppleton City sits in USDA hardiness zone 6b.
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 Appleton City is in
Appleton City sits in the Central Irregular Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Appleton City's own centroid, and it is not what its county reads: St. Clair County is mostly Ozark Highlands. The wider page above you is answering a different question about different ground.
What Grows in Appleton City
Every plant below cleared Appleton City's own zone 6b and its 225-day season. Each card opens that plant's Missouri profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Appleton City?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. Cool-season crops can go in from around Feb 27; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Mar 27 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 7 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. Here the season winds down slowly: late sowings, a real autumn harvest, and garlic in the ground before the first hard freeze.
What's on the federal record near Appleton City
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Appleton City. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- UNITED PARCEL SERVICEBrownfields · 1200 ft
- UNITED PARCEL SERVICE INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 1200 ft
- AC WELDINGUnderground Storage Tanks · 1200 ft
- CASEYS GENERAL STORE #1096Underground Storage Tanks · 1400 ft
- APPLETON CITY MAINT LOTUnderground Storage Tanks · 1800 ft
- WHITEMAN AFB JULIET-3Underground Storage Tanks · 1.4 mi
- T40N R28W 36BBC1Nitrate · 3.6 mi
- WHITEMAN AFB GOLF-10Underground Storage Tanks · 4.2 mi
- T39N R28W 22CCB1Nitrate · 4.4 mi
- MONTROSE MAINT LOTUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.8 mi
- SHILOH LURE COMPANYToxics Release Inventory · 5.1 mi
- SHILOH LURE COMPANYBrownfields · 5.1 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Appleton 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 Appleton City.
Total Sites
47
within ~10 miles of Appleton City
Risk Level
Low
Highest-severity
2 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Appleton City
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Appleton City
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Appleton City, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Appleton City — CAFO (3 sites) and Nitrate (16 sites). Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
CAFO: CAFOs pose a different contamination profile than chemical sources.
Nitrate: Nitrate contamination primarily comes from agricultural fertilizer runoff and failing septic systems.
Wash all produce consumed raw thoroughly, especially leafy greens grown near CAFOs.
Test well water for nitrate if you rely on a private well for irrigation (EPA standard: 10 mg/L).
Check your specific parcel in Appleton 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 Appleton City average
Your land is one point inside Appleton City
Everything above resolves to Appleton City as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 735 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 Appleton City Average
Appleton City Average
- ●USDA Zones 6b, averaged across Appleton City
- ●One soil character for all of Appleton City
- ●Frost dates read at Appleton City's scale: Mar 27 to Nov 7
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Appleton City's 6b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Appleton City
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Appleton City, Missouri — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Appleton City averages can't show:
We read public map data around Appleton City — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Appleton City average
How we know this about Appleton 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 Appleton 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 Appleton City
When does frost risk typically end in Appleton City?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Appleton City typically lands around Mar 27, 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 Apr 17.
When is the first frost in Appleton City?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Appleton City typically arrives around Nov 7, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 24, so the watching starts about Oct 8 — about 225 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Appleton City?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Appleton City sees about 225 frost-free days — roughly Mar 27 through Nov 7, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Apr 17 to Oct 24, about 190 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Appleton City?
The federal record around Appleton City is light — 47 documented sites across the 9 federal source types we checked, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (24), the nearest Brownfields record about 0.2 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 Appleton City?
From about Oct 8 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 Nov 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 Nov 7. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Appleton City's scale — its 6b band and its 225-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Appleton 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 Appleton City’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Appleton City's own scale — its own ~225-day season between 28°F freezes, the 735 acres it covers and 47 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Appleton City's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Appleton City's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Mar 27 and Nov 7 and the ~225-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 47 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Appleton City, the closest Brownfields record about 0.2 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Appleton City's boundary and the 735 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6b and a ~225-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- Appleton City sits in the Central Irregular Plains — not the ecoregion its county mostly readsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Appleton City's 735 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom St. Clair County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom St. Clair County
- The growing challenges every Missouri grower plans around — written at state scale, so they stay on the state guidefrom Missouri
- Butterfly and beetle records, and the farmland pesticide estimate — all published county-widefrom St. Clair County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Appleton City's 735 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Appleton 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 735 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Brownfields record about 0.2 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 Appleton City-wide figureread your own land →
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