Dunning, Nebraska, sits in USDA hardiness zone 5a — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
These conditions suit cabbage, cranberry, lavender, and collard greens — a starting list any specific site will trim or extend with its own soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Dunning, 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 Dunning 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 Dunning — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Dunning — the short answer
Dunning, Nebraska: USDA zone 5a, about 172 days between hard freezes, across 146 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 16
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~172
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 146 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 Dunning's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Dunning's 172-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Dunning
Each reading below is measured for Dunning itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredDunning runs about 172 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
MeasuredDunning 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 Dunning is in
Dunning sits in the Nebraska Sand Hills — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Dunning's own centroid rather than borrowed from Blaine County.
What Grows in Dunning
Every plant below cleared Dunning's own zone 5a and its 172-day season. Each card opens that plant's Nebraska profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Dunning?
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 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 16 — 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 Dunning
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Dunning. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- NORMs AUTO REPAIRUnderground Storage Tanks · 2400 ft
- DAN HENRY SERVICESUnderground Storage Tanks · 2600 ft
- ZUTAVERN RANCH COCAFO · 0.9 mi
- ZUTAVERN RANCH COUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.9 mi
- 21N 25W13ABAA1Nitrate · 3.2 mi
- WILLIAM ZUTAVERN CATTLE COUnderground Storage Tanks · 5.3 mi
- CIRCLE 4 FERTILIZER INCORPORATEDBrownfields · 9.7 mi
- J & D GASUnderground Storage Tanks · 10.0 mi
Measured from Dunning'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 Dunning.
Total Sites
9
within ~10 miles of Dunning
Risk Level
Low
Highest-severity
1 concentrated animal feeding operation
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Dunning
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Dunning
Highest-Severity Sites
Know Before You Grow
- •Underground tanks leak petroleum as they age — near a former filling station, test the soil.
- •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.
Check your specific parcel in Dunning
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 Dunning average
Your land is one point inside Dunning
Everything above resolves to Dunning as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 146 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 Dunning Average
Dunning Average
- ●USDA Zones 5a, averaged across Dunning
- ●One soil character for all of Dunning
- ●Frost dates read at Dunning's scale: Apr 27 to Oct 16
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Dunning's 5a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Dunning
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Dunning, Nebraska — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Dunning averages can't show:
We read public map data around Dunning — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Dunning average
How we know this about Dunning
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 Dunning’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 Dunning
When does frost risk typically end in Dunning?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Dunning 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 Dunning?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Dunning typically arrives around Oct 16, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 2, so the watching starts about Sep 16 — about 172 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Dunning?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Dunning sees about 172 frost-free days — roughly Apr 27 through Oct 16, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 18 to Oct 2, about 137 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Dunning?
The federal record around Dunning is light — 9 documented sites across the 9 federal source types we checked, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (5), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.5 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 Dunning?
From about Sep 16 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 16 (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 16. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Dunning's scale — its 5a band and its 172-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Dunning'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 Dunning’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Dunning's own scale — its own ~172-day season between 28°F freezes, the 146 acres it covers and 9 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Dunning's own USDA hardiness band, zones 5aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Dunning's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 27 and Oct 16 and the ~172-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 9 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Dunning, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.5 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Dunning's boundary and the 146 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 5a and a ~172-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Dunning's own centroid, the Nebraska Sand HillsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Dunning's 146 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Blaine County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Blaine 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 Blaine County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Dunning's 146 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Dunning you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 146 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.5 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 Dunning-wide figureread your own land →
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