Whitney, Nebraska, sits in USDA hardiness zone 5a — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
Well-matched crops include cabbage, cranberry, lavender, and collard greens, and the gap between "grows in the area" and "grows in your yard" is closed by soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Whitney, 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 Whitney 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 Whitney — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Whitney — the short answer
Whitney, Nebraska: USDA zone 5a, about 161 days between hard freezes, across 101 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 5a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 4
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 12
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~161
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 101 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 Whitney's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Whitney's 161-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Whitney
Each reading below is measured for Whitney itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredWhitney runs about 161 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
MeasuredWhitney 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 Whitney is in
Whitney sits in the Northwestern Great Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Whitney's own centroid, and it is not what its county reads: Dawes County is mostly High Plains. The wider page above you is answering a different question about different ground.
What Grows in Whitney
Every plant below cleared Whitney's own zone 5a and its 161-day season. Each card opens that plant's Nebraska profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Whitney?
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 Apr 6; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 4 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 12 — 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.
Environmental Check
No contamination sources found near Whitney
We checked 9 federal environmental databases and found no recorded contamination sites in this area. A clean starting point for growing.
Your land is one point inside Whitney
Everything above resolves to Whitney as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 101 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 Whitney Average
Whitney Average
- ●USDA Zones 5a, averaged across Whitney
- ●One soil character for all of Whitney
- ●Frost dates read at Whitney's scale: May 4 to Oct 12
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Whitney's 5a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Whitney
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Whitney, Nebraska — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Whitney averages can't show:
We read public map data around Whitney — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Whitney average
How we know this about Whitney
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 Whitney’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 Whitney
When does frost risk typically end in Whitney?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Whitney typically lands around May 4, 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 25.
When is the first frost in Whitney?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Whitney typically arrives around Oct 12, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 28, so the watching starts about Sep 12 — about 161 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Whitney?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Whitney sees about 161 frost-free days — roughly May 4 through Oct 12, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 25 to Sep 28, about 126 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Whitney?
No database can certify soil, but the federal record here is clean: we checked all 9 federal contamination source types and found no documented sites within the search radii around Whitney. That means nothing is on record — not that the land is certified clean — so a one-time soil test is still the way to know your own yard's history.
How do I protect my plants from frost in Whitney?
From about Sep 12 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 12 (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 12. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Whitney's scale — its 5a band and its 161-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Whitney'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 Whitney’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Whitney's own scale — its own ~161-day season between 28°F freezes and the 101 acres it covers; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Whitney's own USDA hardiness band, zones 5aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Whitney's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 4 and Oct 12 and the ~161-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- Whitney's boundary and the 101 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 5a and a ~161-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- Whitney sits in the Northwestern Great 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 Whitney's 101 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Dawes County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Dawes 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 Dawes County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Whitney's 101 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Whitney you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 101 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How much sun your beds actually get once the trees leaf outmeasuring sun honestly →
- 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 Whitney-wide figureread your own land →