Nebraska spans USDA hardiness zones 4b-6a, with a growing season of about 181 frost-free days — a true four-season rhythm: spring greens, a full summer main crop, and a fall window that rewards planning.
Behind the zone label sits the real climate engine: 15-34 inches of annual rainfall, a median of roughly 2,648 growing-degree days (base 50°F), and about 2,500 winter chill hours for tree fruit. Most ground here falls among loess, sandy loam (Sandhills), silt loam, and clay, whose drainage habits quietly decide which beds flourish. Nebraska is not one growing region but several — from High Plains, Nebraska Sandhills, and Nebraska Panhandle — each with its own zone band and frost timing. Expect sweet corn, tomato, cottonwood, and grape to be strong candidates here; the deciding factors on any one parcel stay local — soil, sun, and drainage.
Grounded inUSDA PHZM•NOAA Climate Normals•USDA NRCS SSURGO•GDD (PRISM 1991-2020 normals)•Chill hours (PRISM 1991-2020 normals)•USDA hardiness sub-region map•EPA FRS•USDA PLANTS•Growable Ground suitability scoring
Nebraska spans zones 4b-6a, but your yard sits in exactly one — and slope, tree cover, and low spots nudge it further. 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 Nebraska — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Distinct growing regions within Nebraska — each has its own zones, soils, and signature crops.
Nebraska: USDA zones 4b-6a, 134–207 frost-free days depending on the county, 93 counties.
The middle half of this state’s counties. Tender transplants usually wait 2–3 weeks past the last hard freeze. The shortest-season figure is Nebraska's own county record — Sioux County's measured 28°F normal, not a modeled floor.
Nebraska does not have one growing season. Across all 571 of its towns that carry their own 30-year record, the shortest measured season is Harrison's at 150 days and the longest is Richfield's at 209 — a 59-day spread inside one state.
Neither end is a lone reading — another 12 towns measure within 10 days of Harrison and 90 sit within 10 days of Richfield. These are real pockets, so the number to plant against is your own town's, not the state average.
NOAA Regional Climate Centers ACIS (1991–2020), 30-year daily minimum record
Zone 4b-6a is Nebraska's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Nebraska's 181-day season, see what your own ground reads.
One answer for Nebraska averages 93 counties whose growing seasons are 73 days apart — from 134 frost-free days in Sioux County to 207 in Sarpy County. That is the same state, measured the same way, in the same years. Which end of it your county sits nearer decides what finishes before the first hard freeze.
The middle half of 93 counties runs 173–191 days, with a median of 181 days — a 73-day span end to end.
Measured across 93 counties, each carrying its own 28°F normal. NOAA Regional Climate Centers ACIS, 1991-2020, county 28°F killing freeze. A county with no record of its own is absent from the range rather than counted as zero — nothing here is interpolated to the state. Your own site sits somewhere inside this range; a parcel report resolves where.
The middle half of Nebraska runs 173–191 frost-free days, and 46 of its 93 counties sit outside that — 23 on the short side, 23 on the long. A statewide planting date describes the middle well and the ends poorly, which is worth knowing before you follow one.
Under 173 frost-free days
23 counties
3 of 23 shown
The end of the state that sets the planting calendar — start seed indoors here and the season stretches to meet the crop.
173–191 frost-free days
47 counties
0 of 47 shown
The middle half of the state, and the part a single statewide date describes well.
Over 191 frost-free days
23 counties
3 of 23 shown
Long enough for a second succession of a quick crop after the first comes out.
Each county is placed by its own 28°F frost-free normal (NOAA Regional Climate Centers ACIS, 1991-2020, county 28°F killing freeze), the same figure its own guide page publishes. Elevation, slope and cold-air drainage move a yard within its county as well — which is the part only your address resolves.
The soil types that dominate Nebraska — how each drains decides more about crop success than almost anything else. Tap any soil to learn what it is and how to work with it. Each photo is a representative profile of that soil type; the named series is where it was documented, which is often another state.
Drainage
Good — it absorbs rain readily and holds it in reach of roots — but it erodes faster than any other soil when left bare on a slope.
What thrives
Nearly everything: corn, small grains, and the full vegetable garden thrive in loess country, which is exactly why so much of it is farmed.
Drainage
Fast. The sand fraction opens the soil up, so water moves through the root zone quickly and the surface rarely stays soggy. The trade is that nutrients ride out with the water.
What thrives
Root crops love it — carrots, potatoes, radishes, and onions size up cleanly in ground they can push through. Melons, sweet potatoes, asparagus, and most herbs appreciate the warmth and the drainage.
Drainage
Moderate. Silt holds water well and releases it steadily, though the fine particles can crust after hard rain and compact under traffic.
What thrives
The full vegetable garden does well here, and small grains, corn, and leafy greens are classic silt-loam crops. Its steady moisture suits shallow-rooted plants that dislike drought stress.
Drainage
Slow. Water enters clay reluctantly and leaves it the same way, so wet springs keep it cold and unworkable longer than lighter soils.
What thrives
Once established, heavy feeders prosper — brassicas, beans, corn, and many fruit trees ride clay’s nutrient supply and summer moisture reserve. Daylilies, roses, and prairie perennials handle it without complaint.
Soil data: USDA NRCS SSURGO · Soil types explained
Plants well-suited to Nebraska's climate, soils, and growing season — each links to its full growing profile.
Rarely: the season closes in stages, not all at once, and each stage has its crops. Across Nebraska, cool-season planting typically opens about four weeks before the local last hard freeze — county medians put that freeze near Apr 19, with the middle half of counties between Apr 12 and Apr 26 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals). Tender transplants wait two to three weeks past it, and fall planting counts back from first freezes mostly between Oct 15 and Oct 21 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. As the window narrows, the plantings just get faster — fall brassicas, then greens, then garlic to finish.
The plants Nebraska put its name on — cultural emblems, not growing recommendations.
Goldenrod
Solidago gigantea
Designated 1895.
Eastern cottonwood
Populus deltoides
Designated 1972.
Plants the USDA PLANTS Database documents as native and present in Nebraska — a real per-state range, not just a zone match. Ordered by how closely each plant’s published hardiness range matches Nebraska’s zones 4b-6a, so this is a shortlist by climate fit, not a ranking of which plants matter most here. Presence is statewide, so a plant may still be uncommon in your specific county; your state’s Cooperative Extension or a native-plant society is the local authority.
US-native plants whose hardiness range overlaps Nebraska’s USDA zones 4b-6a but which USDA PLANTS doesn’t map to a single state range here. Zone overlap is a starting filter, not a range map.
What an experienced grower plans around here — each one has a move.
Low western rainfall (15 inches) requires irrigation
In the west, drip lines and deep mulch are the season — design the water first and the garden follows.
Extreme wind exposure on open plains
A windbreak earns its ground: even a shrub row or a snow fence cuts plant stress dramatically.
Hail damage during severe storm season
Keep row cover or hail netting staged through the storm months — five minutes of cover can save the whole bed.
For cultivar selection, pest pressure, and planting-time guidance specific to Nebraska, the Nebraska Extension is the authoritative local source.
Safe to Grow Here?What the federal record shows across Nebraska — and how to grow with it.
We checked the federal record across Nebraska — 10,663 documented sites across 8 of the 9 source types we track.
The most significant on record: 162 Superfund sites. Sites tracked in EPA's Superfund program — from assessment-stage CERCLIS entries to confirmed National Priorities List cleanup sites.
Nebraska carries one of the heavier federal records we track — and that's not a verdict on your yard. Proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis: nothing here says any particular parcel is affected. It does earn one concrete step — before food beds go in the ground, a professional soil test tells you exactly what you're working with, and raised beds with clean imported soil grow well almost anywhere in the meantime.
Severity Distribution
across Nebraska
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Nebraska, two things run higher than the national average across Nebraska — CAFO (700 sites) and Nitrate (4,328 sites). It's not cause for alarm — it's worth knowing, and there's a sensible way to grow around it.
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).
Sources: EPA, USGS — 1.8M documented sites tracked nationwide across 9 federal source types.
Everything above resolves to Nebraska as a whole — a state whose own counties record seasons 73 days apart, and hardiness across zones 4b-6a. Your parcel sits at one point in that range, not in the middle of it. 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 state 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 statewide average.
State averages sketch the shape. Your soil, sun exposure, drainage, and microclimate decide what actually takes. Pull a site-specific report for your exact parcel.
Enter your address. We read your soil, sun, drainage, and frost dates, then score 1,086 plants against the real conditions on your land.
Three things about your lot that Nebraska averages can't show:
We read public map data around Nebraska — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Nebraska average
The datasets: hardiness from the USDA ARS Plant Hardiness Zone Map 2023, read per county and aggregated to the state band; the growing season from NOAA Regional Climate Centers ACIS 1991–2020 28°F normals, read at each county’s own record; rainfall from NOAA Climate Normals; soils from USDA NRCS SSURGO; boundaries from US Census TIGER/Line 2025; the contamination record from the federal sources named in that beat above. Where a county carries no record of its own, it is absent from the figure rather than filled in.
Nebraska spans USDA hardiness zones 4b-6a — which is to say winter's coldest night runs from about −25°F to −5°F depending where in Nebraska you are, averaged over 1991–2020 (USDA PHZM 2023).
Rarely: the season closes in stages, not all at once, and each stage has its crops. Across Nebraska, cool-season planting typically opens about four weeks before the local last hard freeze — county medians put that freeze near Apr 19, with the middle half of counties between Apr 12 and Apr 26 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals). Tender transplants wait two to three weeks past it, and fall planting counts back from first freezes mostly between Oct 15 and Oct 21 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. As the window narrows, the plantings just get faster — fall brassicas, then greens, then garlic to finish.
Across Nebraska, the middle half of counties see their last hard freeze (28°F) between about Apr 12 and Apr 26, with a county median near Apr 19 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals). 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 10.
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, growing seasons across Nebraska's counties mostly run about 173 to 191 days, with a county median near 181 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals). Tender crops get a somewhat shorter practical window, since lighter frosts reach a few weeks past the hard-freeze dates on both ends.
Nebraska's zones 4b-6a support a wide range — strong performers include Sweet Corn, Tomato, Cottonwood, Grape, and Sunflower. What actually takes on any one site comes down to its soil, sun, and drainage, and we score each plant against the real conditions at your address.
Officially, Nebraska spans USDA zones 4b-6a (USDA PHZM 2023) — but a zone is a 30-year average of winter's coldest night across an area, and it can't see any one yard. A south-facing slope, a tree line, or a low frost pocket can shift a single site by half a zone either way, which is why neighboring gardeners often quote different numbers. We read the conditions at your exact address — soil, sun, slope, and frost — and score 1,086 plants against what's actually there.
The federal record across Nebraska runs heavier than most — 10,663 documented sites, mostly Nitrate entries (4,328) — so test the soil before planting food in the ground, and raised beds with clean imported soil grow well in the meantime. Even here, proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard; the contamination map shows exactly what's recorded and where.
Start with three facts. Nebraska spans USDA zones 4b-6a, which sets what survives winter; last hard freezes range from about Apr 12 to Apr 26 across its counties (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and 10,663 documented sites sit on the federal record here, so a soil test before food beds is the smart first step. From there, matching plants to your actual soil and sun is the fun part.
Everything above is measured at Nebraska's scale — its 4b-6a band and its 181-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Nebraska's numbers: we read soil, sun, drainage and frost at your exact address. Try it for 14 days — no card required.
6 of the readings below were taken at Nebraska's own scale — the full zone 4b-6a span inside its borders, the 4 soil types that dominate its ground and 10,663 documented sites on its federal record; anything it cannot resolve at this scale is named below.
Measured here
What this page can’t tell you
Explore growing conditions by county — each has its own zone range and land area.
Explore growing conditions by city or town in Nebraska.
Nebraska shares its dominant growing region with these states — a useful comparison if you're weighing where a crop will behave the same way.
