Wilcox, Nebraska, sits in USDA hardiness zone 6a — 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, hazelnut, lavender, and collard greens — with any one site's soil, sun, and drainage making the final cut.
Even in Wilcox, 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 Wilcox 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 Wilcox — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Wilcox — the short answer
Wilcox, Nebraska: USDA zone 6a, about 190 days between hard freezes, across 319 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 6a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 15
- 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
- ~190
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 319 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 Wilcox's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Wilcox's 190-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Wilcox
Each reading below is measured for Wilcox itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredWilcox runs about 190 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
MeasuredWilcox 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 Wilcox is in
Wilcox sits in the Central Great Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Wilcox's own centroid rather than borrowed from Kearney County.
What Grows in Wilcox
Every plant below cleared Wilcox's own zone 6a and its 190-day season. Each card opens that plant's Nebraska profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Wilcox?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 18; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 15 (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. 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 Wilcox
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Wilcox. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- ZIEBARTH FARMS INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.1 mi
- 5N 16W 6AC 1Nitrate · 4.6 mi
- R. D. O. INC FEEDLOTCAFO · 6.6 mi
- MR TIREUnderground Storage Tanks · 7.9 mi
- ANDERSON GARAGEBrownfields · 8.0 mi
- CPI MR TIREUnderground Storage Tanks · 8.3 mi
- AURORA COOP dba KEENE COOPUnderground Storage Tanks · 8.3 mi
- 5N 18W35DB 1Nitrate · 8.4 mi
- BETHPHAGE RESIDENTIAL CENTERUnderground Storage Tanks · 9.0 mi
- 4N 18W15AD 1 RAGANNitrate · 9.2 mi
- 5N 15W10BC 1Nitrate · 9.4 mi
Measured from Wilcox'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 Wilcox.
Total Sites
15
within ~10 miles of Wilcox
Risk Level
Low
Highest-severity
1 concentrated animal feeding operation
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Wilcox
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Wilcox
Highest-Severity Sites
Know Before You Grow
- •On a private well, test for nitrates: above 10 mg/L the water needs treatment before irrigating.
- •Underground tanks leak petroleum as they age — near a former filling station, test the soil.
- •Near a brownfield, raised beds of imported soil give your food clean ground.
Check your specific parcel in Wilcox
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 Wilcox average
Your land is one point inside Wilcox
Everything above resolves to Wilcox as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 319 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 Wilcox Average
Wilcox Average
- ●USDA Zones 6a, averaged across Wilcox
- ●One soil character for all of Wilcox
- ●Frost dates read at Wilcox's scale: Apr 15 to Oct 22
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Wilcox's 6a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Wilcox
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Wilcox, Nebraska — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Wilcox averages can't show:
We read public map data around Wilcox — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Wilcox average
How we know this about Wilcox
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 Wilcox’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 Wilcox
When does frost risk typically end in Wilcox?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Wilcox typically lands around Apr 15, 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 6.
When is the first frost in Wilcox?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Wilcox 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 190 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Wilcox?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Wilcox sees about 190 frost-free days — roughly Apr 15 through Oct 22, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 6 to Oct 8, about 155 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Wilcox?
The federal record around Wilcox is light — 15 documented sites across the 9 federal source types we checked, mostly Nitrate entries (8), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 2.1 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 Wilcox?
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 Wilcox's scale — its 6a band and its 190-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Wilcox'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 Wilcox’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Wilcox's own scale — its own ~190-day season between 28°F freezes, the 319 acres it covers and 15 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Wilcox's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Wilcox's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 15 and Oct 22 and the ~190-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 15 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Wilcox, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 2.1 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Wilcox's boundary and the 319 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6a and a ~190-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Wilcox's own centroid, the Central Great PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Wilcox's 319 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Kearney County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Kearney 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 Kearney County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Wilcox's 319 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Wilcox you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 319 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 2.1 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 Wilcox-wide figureread your own land →
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