Enders, Nebraska, sits in USDA hardiness zone 5b — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
On paper, cabbage, cranberry, lavender, and collard greens all suit these conditions — on the ground, soil, sun, and drainage make the final call.
Even in Enders, 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 Enders 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 Enders — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Enders — the short answer
Enders, Nebraska: USDA zone 5b, about 179 days between hard freezes, across 84 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 5b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 22
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 18
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~179
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 84 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 5b is Enders's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Enders's 179-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Enders
Each reading below is measured for Enders itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredEnders runs about 179 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
MeasuredEnders sits in USDA hardiness zone 5b.
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 Enders is in
Enders sits in the High Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Enders's own centroid rather than borrowed from Chase County.
What Grows in Enders
Every plant below cleared Enders's own zone 5b and its 179-day season. Each card opens that plant's Nebraska profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Enders?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 25; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 22 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 18 — 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 Enders
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Enders. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- IMPERIAL NAPABrownfields · 3.9 mi
- UAP AG SERVICEToxics Release Inventory · 5.8 mi
- 7N 37W34AADD1Nitrate · 5.9 mi
- FVC T-JUNCTIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 6.0 mi
- MIDWEST FARM EQUIPMENTBrownfields · 6.1 mi
- ROBERT YOST ENTERPRISES INCBrownfields · 6.5 mi
- T.O. HAAS TIRE & AUTO #5152Brownfields · 6.5 mi
- DOLLAR GENERALUnderground Storage Tanks · 6.5 mi
- TOBYS AUTOMOTIVE INC - FORMER SITE OFBrownfields · 6.5 mi
- KWIK STOP #6Underground Storage Tanks · 7.0 mi
- FVC-IMPERIAL STATIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 7.0 mi
- FVC-AGRONOMY CENTERUnderground Storage Tanks · 7.3 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Enders'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 Enders.
Total Sites
25
within ~10 miles of Enders
Risk Level
Low
Highest-severity
1 Toxics Release Inventory facility
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Enders
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Enders
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Enders, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 8 sites within ~10 miles of Enders. That's not a problem with your land — it's information about it.
Nitrate: Nitrate contamination primarily comes from agricultural fertilizer runoff and failing septic systems.
Test well water for nitrate if you rely on a private well for irrigation (EPA standard: 10 mg/L).
Check your specific parcel in Enders
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 Enders average
Your land is one point inside Enders
Everything above resolves to Enders as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 84 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 Enders Average
Enders Average
- ●USDA Zones 5b, averaged across Enders
- ●One soil character for all of Enders
- ●Frost dates read at Enders's scale: Apr 22 to Oct 18
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Enders's 5b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Enders
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Enders, Nebraska — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Enders averages can't show:
We read public map data around Enders — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Enders average
How we know this about Enders
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 Enders’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 Enders
When does frost risk typically end in Enders?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Enders typically lands around Apr 22, 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 13.
When is the first frost in Enders?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Enders typically arrives around Oct 18, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 4, so the watching starts about Sep 18 — about 179 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Enders?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Enders sees about 179 frost-free days — roughly Apr 22 through Oct 18, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 13 to Oct 4, about 144 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Enders?
The federal record around Enders is light — 25 documented sites across the 9 federal source types we checked, mostly Brownfields entries (8), the nearest Brownfields record about 3.9 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 Enders?
From about Sep 18 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 18 (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 18. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Enders's scale — its 5b band and its 179-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Enders'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 Enders’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Enders's own scale — its own ~179-day season between 28°F freezes, the 84 acres it covers and 25 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Enders's own USDA hardiness band, zones 5bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Enders's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 22 and Oct 18 and the ~179-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 25 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Enders, the closest Brownfields record about 3.9 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Enders's boundary and the 84 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 5b and a ~179-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Enders's own centroid, the High PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Enders's 84 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Chase County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Chase 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 Chase County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Enders's 84 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Enders you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 84 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Brownfields record about 3.9 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 Enders-wide figureread your own land →
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