Verdigre, Nebraska, sits in USDA hardiness zone 5a — a band that supports both cool-season staples and warm-season crops chosen to fit the local frost window.
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 Verdigre, 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 Verdigre 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 Verdigre — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Verdigre — the short answer
Verdigre, Nebraska: USDA zone 5a, about 181 days between hard freezes, across 351 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 5a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 19
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 17
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~181
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 351 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 Verdigre's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Verdigre's 181-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Verdigre
Each reading below is measured for Verdigre itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredVerdigre runs about 181 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
MeasuredVerdigre 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 Verdigre is in
Verdigre sits in the Northwestern Glaciated Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Verdigre's own centroid, and it is not what its county reads: Knox County is mostly Western Corn Belt Plains. The wider page above you is answering a different question about different ground.
What Grows in Verdigre
Every plant below cleared Verdigre's own zone 5a and its 181-day season. Each card opens that plant's Nebraska profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Verdigre?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 22; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 19 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 17 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. Even past midsummer there is room for a true fall garden here, and garlic planted near the close carries the momentum into next year.
What's on the federal record near Verdigre
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Verdigre. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- WALTs IMPLEMENTSUnderground Storage Tanks · 600 ft
- VERDIGRE FARM SERVICEUnderground Storage Tanks · 600 ft
- GORDON MCELHOSE TRKG & CONSTUnderground Storage Tanks · 650 ft
- ARCHIE WALTONUnderground Storage Tanks · 650 ft
- 30N 6W 8AD 1Nitrate · 2500 ft
Measured from Verdigre'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 Verdigre.
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Verdigre
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.
Check your specific parcel in Verdigre
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 Verdigre average
Your land is one point inside Verdigre
Everything above resolves to Verdigre as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 351 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 Verdigre Average
Verdigre Average
- ●USDA Zones 5a, averaged across Verdigre
- ●One soil character for all of Verdigre
- ●Frost dates read at Verdigre's scale: Apr 19 to Oct 17
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Verdigre's 5a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Verdigre
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Verdigre, Nebraska — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Verdigre averages can't show:
We read public map data around Verdigre — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Verdigre average
How we know this about Verdigre
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 Verdigre’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 Verdigre
When does frost risk typically end in Verdigre?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Verdigre typically lands around Apr 19, 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 10.
When is the first frost in Verdigre?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Verdigre typically arrives around Oct 17, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 3, so the watching starts about Sep 17 — about 181 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Verdigre?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Verdigre sees about 181 frost-free days — roughly Apr 19 through Oct 17, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 10 to Oct 3, about 146 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Verdigre?
The federal record around Verdigre is light — 6 documented sites across the 9 federal source types we checked, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (4), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.1 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 Verdigre?
From about Sep 17 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 17 (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 17. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Verdigre's scale — its 5a band and its 181-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Verdigre'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 Verdigre’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Verdigre's own scale — its own ~181-day season between 28°F freezes, the 351 acres it covers and 6 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Verdigre's own USDA hardiness band, zones 5aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Verdigre's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 19 and Oct 17 and the ~181-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 6 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Verdigre, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.1 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Verdigre's boundary and the 351 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 5a and a ~181-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- Verdigre sits in the Northwestern Glaciated Plains — not the ecoregion its county mostly readsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Verdigre's 351 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Knox County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Knox 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 Knox County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Verdigre's 351 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Verdigre you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 351 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.1 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 Verdigre-wide figureread your own land →
More in Nebraska
Wider growing context
What grows across NebraskaVerdigre sits outside our named growing regions, so Nebraska as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides