Arthur, Nebraska, sits in USDA hardiness zone 5a — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
Crops well matched to these conditions include cabbage, cranberry, lavender, and collard greens — though what thrives on any one site still turns on its specific soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Arthur, 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 Arthur 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 Arthur — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Arthur — the short answer
Arthur, Nebraska: USDA zone 5a, about 168 days between hard freezes, across 198 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 5a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 27
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 12
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~168
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 198 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 5a is Arthur's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Arthur's 168-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Arthur
Each reading below is measured for Arthur itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredArthur runs about 168 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
MeasuredArthur sits in USDA hardiness zone 5a.
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 Arthur is in
Arthur sits in the Nebraska Sand Hills — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Arthur's own centroid rather than borrowed from Arthur County.
What Grows in Arthur
Every plant below cleared Arthur's own zone 5a and its 168-day season. Each card opens that plant's Nebraska profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Arthur?
Rarely: the season closes in stages, not all at once, and each stage has its crops. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 30; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 27 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 12 — 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.
What's on the federal record near Arthur
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Arthur. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- ARTHUR RANCH PETROLEUM LLCUnderground Storage Tanks · 900 ft
- ARTHUR COUNTY HIGH SCHOOLBrownfields · 1200 ft
- 19N 38W33DDDA1Nitrate · 1200 ft
- 19N 37W31AC 1Nitrate · 3.4 mi
- 18N 39W13BD 1Nitrate · 4.6 mi
- 20N 38W29CC 1Nitrate · 7.1 mi
- 17N 38W 6CD 1Nitrate · 7.6 mi
Measured from Arthur'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 Arthur.
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Arthur
Highest-Severity Sites
Know Before You Grow
- •On a private well, test for nitrates: above 10 mg/L the water needs treatment before irrigating.
- •Near a brownfield, raised beds of imported soil give your food clean ground.
- •Underground tanks leak petroleum as they age — near a former filling station, test the soil.
Check your specific parcel in Arthur
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 Arthur average
Your land is one point inside Arthur
Everything above resolves to Arthur as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 198 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 town 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 Arthur Average
Arthur Average
- ●USDA Zones 5a, averaged across Arthur
- ●One soil character for all of Arthur
- ●Frost dates read at Arthur's scale: Apr 27 to Oct 12
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Arthur's 5a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Arthur
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Arthur, Nebraska — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Arthur averages can't show:
We read public map data around Arthur — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Arthur average
How we know this about Arthur
The datasets: hardiness from the USDA ARS Plant Hardiness Zone Map 2023, read at this town’s own centroid; hard-freeze dates from NOAA 1991–2020 28°F normals at Arthur’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 town grain anywhere on this page — there is no town-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 Arthur
When does frost risk typically end in Arthur?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Arthur typically lands around Apr 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 May 18.
When is the first frost in Arthur?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Arthur typically arrives around Oct 12, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 28, so the watching starts about Sep 12 — about 168 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Arthur?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Arthur sees about 168 frost-free days — roughly Apr 27 through Oct 12, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 18 to Sep 28, about 133 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Arthur?
The federal record around Arthur is light — 12 documented sites across the 9 federal source types we checked, mostly Nitrate entries (10), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks 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 Arthur?
From about Sep 12 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 12 (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 12. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Arthur's scale — its 5a band and its 168-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Arthur'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 Arthur’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Arthur's own scale — its own ~168-day season between 28°F freezes, the 198 acres it covers and 12 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Arthur's own USDA hardiness band, zones 5aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Arthur's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 27 and Oct 12 and the ~168-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 12 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Arthur, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Arthur's boundary and the 198 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 5a and a ~168-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Arthur's own centroid, the Nebraska Sand HillsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Arthur's 198 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Arthur County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Arthur County
- The growing challenges every Nebraska grower plans around — written at state scale, so they stay on the state guidefrom Nebraska
- Butterfly and beetle records, and the farmland pesticide estimate — all published county-widefrom Arthur County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Arthur's 198 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Arthur you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 198 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks 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 Arthur-wide figureread your own land →
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