Henderson, Nebraska, sits in USDA hardiness zone 6a — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
Reliable performers under these conditions include cabbage, hazelnut, lavender, and collard greens; what your own ground favors still comes down to its soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Henderson, 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 Henderson 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 Henderson — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Henderson — the short answer
Henderson, Nebraska: USDA zone 6a, about 196 days between hard freezes, across 422 acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 6a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 9
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 22
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~196
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- City area
- 422 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 Henderson's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Henderson's 196-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Henderson
Each reading below is measured for Henderson itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredHenderson runs about 196 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
MeasuredHenderson 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 Henderson is in
Henderson sits in the Central Great Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Henderson's own centroid rather than borrowed from York County.
What Grows in Henderson
Every plant below cleared Henderson's own zone 6a and its 196-day season. Each card opens that plant's Nebraska profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Henderson?
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 12; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 9 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 22 — 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 Henderson
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Henderson. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- HENDERSON COMMUNITY COOPUnderground Storage Tanks · 450 ft
- 9N 4W 6AC 1Nitrate · 700 ft
- HEARTLAND COMMUNITY HIGH SCHLBrownfields · 900 ft
- 9N 4W 6DD 1Nitrate · 0.6 mi
- 9N 5W 1BB 1Nitrate · 1.6 mi
- 9N 5W12BB 1Nitrate · 1.8 mi
- HENDERSON FUEL STOP INC #791Underground Storage Tanks · 2.6 mi
- CIRCLE FIVE BEEF, INC. - HENDERSONCAFO · 2.9 mi
- 9N 5W10DDDD1Nitrate · 3.2 mi
- NORTHERN AGRI SERVICES INCBrownfields · 3.3 mi
- 10N 4W16BB 1Nitrate · 4.4 mi
- OGORZOLKA TRANSPORTATION INCBrownfields · 4.4 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Henderson'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 Henderson.
Total Sites
47
within ~10 miles of Henderson
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
1 Superfund site (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Henderson
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Henderson
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Henderson, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Henderson — CAFO (5 sites) and Nitrate (28 sites). That's not a problem with your land — it's information about 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).
Check your specific parcel in Henderson
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 Henderson average
Your land is one point inside Henderson
Everything above resolves to Henderson as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 422 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 Henderson Average
Henderson Average
- ●USDA Zones 6a, averaged across Henderson
- ●One soil character for all of Henderson
- ●Frost dates read at Henderson's scale: Apr 9 to Oct 22
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Henderson's 6a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Henderson
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Henderson, Nebraska — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Henderson averages can't show:
We read public map data around Henderson — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Henderson average
How we know this about Henderson
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 Henderson’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 Henderson
When does frost risk typically end in Henderson?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Henderson typically lands around Apr 9, 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 30.
When is the first frost in Henderson?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Henderson typically arrives around Oct 22, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 8, so the watching starts about Sep 22 — about 196 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Henderson?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Henderson sees about 196 frost-free days — roughly Apr 9 through Oct 22, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Apr 30 to Oct 8, about 161 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Henderson?
The federal record around Henderson is a meaningful one — 47 documented sites, mostly Nitrate entries (28), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile 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 Henderson?
From about Sep 22 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 22 (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 22. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Henderson's scale — its 6a band and its 196-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Henderson'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 Henderson’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Henderson's own scale — its own ~196-day season between 28°F freezes, the 422 acres it covers and 47 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Henderson's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Henderson's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 9 and Oct 22 and the ~196-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 47 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Henderson, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Henderson's boundary and the 422 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6a and a ~196-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Henderson's own centroid, the Central Great PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Henderson's 422 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom York County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom York 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 York County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Henderson's 422 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Henderson you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 422 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile 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 Henderson-wide figureread your own land →
More in Nebraska
Wider growing context
What grows across NebraskaHenderson sits outside our named growing regions, so Nebraska as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides