Henrietta, Missouri, sits in USDA hardiness zone 6a — enough range to grow cool-season vegetables, hardy fruit, and warm-season crops that mature before the first hard frost.
Well-matched crops include cabbage, hazelnut, lavender, and collard greens, and the gap between "grows in the area" and "grows in your yard" is closed by soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Henrietta, 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 Henrietta 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 Henrietta — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Henrietta — the short answer
Henrietta, Missouri: USDA zone 6a, about 203 days between hard freezes, across 381 acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 6a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 7
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 27
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~203
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- City area
- 381 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 6a is Henrietta's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Henrietta's 203-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Henrietta
Each reading below is measured for Henrietta itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredHenrietta runs about 203 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
MeasuredHenrietta sits in USDA hardiness zone 6a.
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 Henrietta is in
Henrietta sits in the Western Corn Belt Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Henrietta's own centroid, and it is not what its county reads: Ray County is mostly Central Irregular Plains. The wider page above you is answering a different question about different ground.
What Grows in Henrietta
Every plant below cleared Henrietta's own zone 6a and its 203-day season. Each card opens that plant's Missouri profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Henrietta?
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 10; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 7 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 27 — 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 Henrietta
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Henrietta. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- CASEYS GENERAL STORE #1297Underground Storage Tanks · 550 ft
- DOW - UNION PACIFICUnderground Storage Tanks · 650 ft
- TABER'S PRODUCTS INCBrownfields · 1400 ft
- HENRIETTA DEPOTUnderground Storage Tanks · 2000 ft
- HENRIETTA SERVICE CENTERUnderground Storage Tanks · 2100 ft
- U S GRANULES CORPORATIONToxics Release Inventory · 2600 ft
- US BY-PRODUCTSUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- ARNETTE POLYMERS LLCToxics Release Inventory · 0.7 mi
- ARNETTE POLYMERS LLCBrownfields · 0.7 mi
- ORBSEAL LLC-RICHMONDToxics Release Inventory · 1.6 mi
- ORBSEAL LLC-RICHMONDBrownfields · 1.6 mi
- T51N R27W 07DBD1Nitrate · 1.6 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Henrietta'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 Henrietta.
Total Sites
117
within ~10 miles of Henrietta
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
7 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Henrietta
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Henrietta
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Henrietta, PFAS runs higher than the national average — 3 sites within ~10 miles of Henrietta. It's not cause for alarm — it's worth knowing, and there's a sensible way to grow around it.
PFAS: PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) are called "forever chemicals" because they do not biodegrade.
Test irrigation water source — this is the primary pathway for PFAS to reach garden crops.
Check your specific parcel in Henrietta
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 Henrietta average
Your land is one point inside Henrietta
Everything above resolves to Henrietta as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 381 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 Henrietta Average
Henrietta Average
- ●USDA Zones 6a, averaged across Henrietta
- ●One soil character for all of Henrietta
- ●Frost dates read at Henrietta's scale: Apr 7 to Oct 27
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Henrietta's 6a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Henrietta
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Henrietta, Missouri — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Henrietta averages can't show:
We read public map data around Henrietta — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Henrietta average
How we know this about Henrietta
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 Henrietta’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 Henrietta
When does frost risk typically end in Henrietta?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Henrietta typically lands around Apr 7, 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 28.
When is the first frost in Henrietta?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Henrietta typically arrives around Oct 27, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 13, so the watching starts about Sep 27 — about 203 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Henrietta?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Henrietta sees about 203 frost-free days — roughly Apr 7 through Oct 27, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Apr 28 to Oct 13, about 168 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Henrietta?
The federal record around Henrietta is a meaningful one — 117 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (57), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks 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 Henrietta?
From about Sep 27 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 27 (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 27. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Henrietta's scale — its 6a band and its 203-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Henrietta'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 Henrietta’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Henrietta's own scale — its own ~203-day season between 28°F freezes, the 381 acres it covers and 117 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Henrietta's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Henrietta's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 7 and Oct 27 and the ~203-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 117 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Henrietta, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.1 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Henrietta's boundary and the 381 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6a and a ~203-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- Henrietta sits in the Western Corn Belt 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 Henrietta's 381 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Ray County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Ray 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 Ray County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Henrietta's 381 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Henrietta you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 381 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks 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 Henrietta-wide figureread your own land →
More in Missouri
Wider growing context
What grows across MissouriHenrietta sits outside our named growing regions, so Missouri as a whole is its closest context here.