Henry, Nebraska, sits in USDA hardiness zone 5a — room for a real mix of vegetables, fruit, and perennials matched to the local frost calendar.
A short list that earns its place here — cabbage, cranberry, lavender, and collard greens — with any one site's soil, sun, and drainage making the final cut.
Even in Henry, 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 Henry 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 Henry — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Henry — the short answer
Henry, Nebraska: USDA zone 5a, about 162 days between hard freezes, across 134 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 5a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 30
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 9
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~162
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 134 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 Henry's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Henry's 162-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Henry
Each reading below is measured for Henry itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredHenry runs about 162 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
MeasuredHenry 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 Henry is in
Henry sits in the High Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Henry's own centroid rather than borrowed from Scotts Bluff County.
What Grows in Henry
Every plant below cleared Henry's own zone 5a and its 162-day season. Each card opens that plant's Nebraska profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Henry?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. Cool-season crops can go in from around Apr 2; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 30 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 9 — 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 Henry
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Henry. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- 23-060-03bbd01Nitrate · 1.0 mi
- 23-060-10acc01Nitrate · 1.1 mi
- 23-060-10bcb01Nitrate · 1.6 mi
- Goshen Veterinary Clinic, Inc.Underground Storage Tanks · 3.4 mi
- UW Torrington Research and ExtensionUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.4 mi
- 23-060-21cdd01Nitrate · 4.1 mi
- 24-060-19dca01Nitrate · 4.2 mi
- DINKLAGE FEED YARDCAFO · 4.4 mi
- 24-060-19cad01Nitrate · 4.5 mi
- 23-061-12dcc01Nitrate · 5.0 mi
- 24N 57W32DDDD3Nitrate · 5.0 mi
- 24N 57W32DDDD1Nitrate · 5.0 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Henry'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 Henry.
Total Sites
399
within ~10 miles of Henry
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
3 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Henry
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Henry
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Henry, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Henry — CAFO (10 sites) and Nitrate (292 sites). Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
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 Henry
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 Henry average
Your land is one point inside Henry
Everything above resolves to Henry as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 134 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 Henry Average
Henry Average
- ●USDA Zones 5a, averaged across Henry
- ●One soil character for all of Henry
- ●Frost dates read at Henry's scale: Apr 30 to Oct 9
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Henry's 5a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Henry
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Henry, Nebraska — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Henry averages can't show:
We read public map data around Henry — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Henry average
How we know this about Henry
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 Henry’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 Henry
When does frost risk typically end in Henry?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Henry typically lands around Apr 30, 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 21.
When is the first frost in Henry?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Henry typically arrives around Oct 9, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 25, so the watching starts about Sep 9 — about 162 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Henry?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Henry sees about 162 frost-free days — roughly Apr 30 through Oct 9, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 21 to Sep 25, about 127 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Henry?
The federal record around Henry is a meaningful one — 399 documented sites, mostly Nitrate entries (292), the nearest Nitrate record about 1.0 miles 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 Henry?
From about Sep 9 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 9 (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 9. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Henry's scale — its 5a band and its 162-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Henry'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 Henry’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Henry's own scale — its own ~162-day season between 28°F freezes, the 134 acres it covers and 399 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Henry's own USDA hardiness band, zones 5aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Henry's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 30 and Oct 9 and the ~162-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 399 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Henry, the closest Nitrate record about 1.0 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Henry's boundary and the 134 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 5a and a ~162-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Henry's own centroid, the High PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Henry's 134 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Scotts Bluff County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Scotts Bluff 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 Scotts Bluff County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Henry's 134 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Henry you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 134 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Nitrate record about 1.0 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 Henry-wide figureread your own land →