Republican City, 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 Republican City, 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 Republican City 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 Republican City — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Republican City — the short answer
Republican City, Nebraska: USDA zone 6a, about 189 days between hard freezes, across 208 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 6a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 16
- 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
- ~189
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 208 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 Republican City's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Republican City's 189-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Republican City
Each reading below is measured for Republican City itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredRepublican City runs about 189 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
MeasuredRepublican City 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 Republican City is in
Republican City sits in the Central Great Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Republican City's own centroid rather than borrowed from Harlan County.
What Grows in Republican City
Every plant below cleared Republican City's own zone 6a and its 189-day season. Each card opens that plant's Nebraska profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Republican City?
Too late for some crops, right on time for others — a growing season is a sequence, not a deadline. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 19; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 16 (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 Republican City
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Republican City. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- TALL TALES LOUNGEUnderground Storage Tanks · 1000 ft
- THE ISLANDUnderground Storage Tanks · 1800 ft
- D.M. SCHLUNTZ CORP.CAFO · 3.5 mi
- CORPS OF ENGINEERSBrownfields · 4.0 mi
- USACE-HARLAN COUNTY PROJECTUnderground Storage Tanks · 5.3 mi
- ALMA NE, CITY OFPFAS · 7.3 mi
- BROOKS FORD INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 7.5 mi
- SHORT STOP OF ALMAUnderground Storage Tanks · 7.6 mi
- NEBRASKA DEPT OF TRANSUnderground Storage Tanks · 7.7 mi
- 01S 17W 05DD 01Nitrate · 7.8 mi
- TRIPE MOTOR COBrownfields · 7.8 mi
- PUMP & PANTRY #35Underground Storage Tanks · 7.8 mi
5 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Republican City'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 Republican City.
Total Sites
20
within ~10 miles of Republican City
Risk Level
Moderate
Highest-severity
3 concentrated animal feeding operations
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Republican City
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Republican City
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.
- •Large animal operations push nitrates and bacteria downstream. Below one, test your water.
Check your specific parcel in Republican City
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 Republican City average
Your land is one point inside Republican City
Everything above resolves to Republican City as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 208 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 Republican City Average
Republican City Average
- ●USDA Zones 6a, averaged across Republican City
- ●One soil character for all of Republican City
- ●Frost dates read at Republican City's scale: Apr 16 to Oct 22
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Republican City's 6a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Republican City
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Republican City, Nebraska — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Republican City averages can't show:
We read public map data around Republican City — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Republican City average
How we know this about Republican City
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 Republican City’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 Republican City
When does frost risk typically end in Republican City?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Republican City typically lands around Apr 16, 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 7.
When is the first frost in Republican City?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Republican City 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 189 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Republican City?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Republican City sees about 189 frost-free days — roughly Apr 16 through Oct 22, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 7 to Oct 8, about 154 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Republican City?
The federal record around Republican City shows 20 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (10), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 miles out — a typical footprint for a growing area, and proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard. It's worth seeing which recorded sites sit closest to where you grow, and testing the soil before new food beds near any of them.
How do I protect my plants from frost in Republican City?
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 Republican City's scale — its 6a band and its 189-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Republican City'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 Republican City’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Republican City's own scale — its own ~189-day season between 28°F freezes, the 208 acres it covers and 20 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Republican City's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Republican City's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 16 and Oct 22 and the ~189-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 20 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Republican City, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Republican City's boundary and the 208 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6a and a ~189-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Republican City's own centroid, the Central Great PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Republican City's 208 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Harlan County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Harlan 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 Harlan County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Republican City's 208 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Republican City you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 208 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 Republican City-wide figureread your own land →
More in Nebraska
Wider growing context
What grows across NebraskaRepublican City sits outside our named growing regions, so Nebraska as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides