Wallace, Nebraska, sits in USDA hardiness zone 5b — a band that supports both cool-season staples and warm-season crops chosen to fit the local frost window.
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 Wallace, 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 Wallace 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 Wallace — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Wallace — the short answer
Wallace, Nebraska: USDA zone 5b, about 175 days between hard freezes, across 456 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 5b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 24
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 16
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~175
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 456 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 Wallace's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Wallace's 175-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Wallace
Each reading below is measured for Wallace itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredWallace runs about 175 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
MeasuredWallace 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 Wallace is in
Wallace sits in the Nebraska Sand Hills — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Wallace's own centroid rather than borrowed from Lincoln County.
What Grows in Wallace
Every plant below cleared Wallace's own zone 5b and its 175-day season. Each card opens that plant's Nebraska profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Wallace?
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 27; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 24 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 16 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. Late in the year the fall bench takes over — quick greens, radishes, and garlic that repays you next summer.
What's on the federal record near Wallace
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Wallace. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- HI LINE COOPUnderground Storage Tanks · 650 ft
- DEAN LUNDVALLUnderground Storage Tanks · 800 ft
- RODNEY CLOUGHUnderground Storage Tanks · 800 ft
- WALLACE AVIATION INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 1000 ft
- OPPLIGER FEEDERS, LLCCAFO · 6.4 mi
- OPPLIGER FEEDERS LLCCAFO · 6.4 mi
- 9N 35W23BBB 1 GRAINTONNitrate · 9.2 mi
- AYLWARD FARMS INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 9.2 mi
Measured from Wallace'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 Wallace.
Total Sites
9
within ~10 miles of Wallace
Risk Level
Low
Highest-severity
2 concentrated animal feeding operations
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Wallace
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Wallace
Highest-Severity Sites
Know Before You Grow
- •Underground tanks leak petroleum as they age — near a former filling station, test the soil.
- •Large animal operations push nitrates and bacteria downstream. Below one, test your water.
- •On a private well, test for nitrates: above 10 mg/L the water needs treatment before irrigating.
Check your specific parcel in Wallace
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 Wallace average
Your land is one point inside Wallace
Everything above resolves to Wallace as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 456 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 Wallace Average
Wallace Average
- ●USDA Zones 5b, averaged across Wallace
- ●One soil character for all of Wallace
- ●Frost dates read at Wallace's scale: Apr 24 to Oct 16
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Wallace's 5b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Wallace
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Wallace, Nebraska — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Wallace averages can't show:
We read public map data around Wallace — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Wallace average
How we know this about Wallace
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 Wallace’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 Wallace
When does frost risk typically end in Wallace?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Wallace typically lands around Apr 24, 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 15.
When is the first frost in Wallace?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Wallace typically arrives around Oct 16, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 2, so the watching starts about Sep 16 — about 175 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Wallace?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Wallace sees about 175 frost-free days — roughly Apr 24 through Oct 16, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 15 to Oct 2, about 140 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Wallace?
The federal record around Wallace is light — 9 documented sites across the 9 federal source types we checked, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (5), 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 Wallace?
From about Sep 16 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 16 (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 16. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Wallace's scale — its 5b band and its 175-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Wallace'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 Wallace’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Wallace's own scale — its own ~175-day season between 28°F freezes, the 456 acres it covers and 9 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Wallace's own USDA hardiness band, zones 5bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Wallace's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 24 and Oct 16 and the ~175-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 9 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Wallace, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.1 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Wallace's boundary and the 456 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 5b and a ~175-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Wallace's own centroid, the Nebraska Sand HillsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Wallace's 456 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Lincoln County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Lincoln 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 Lincoln County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Wallace's 456 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Wallace you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 456 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 Wallace-wide figureread your own land →
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