Regent, North Dakota, sits in USDA hardiness zone 4a — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
These conditions suit cabbage, cranberry, cilantro, and collard greens — a starting list any specific site will trim or extend with its own soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Regent, 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 Regent 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 Regent — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Regent — the short answer
Regent, North Dakota: USDA zone 4a, about 149 days between hard freezes, across 358 acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 4a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 7
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 3
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~149
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- City area
- 358 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 4a is Regent's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Regent's 149-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Regent
Each reading below is measured for Regent itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredRegent runs about 149 days between hard freezes — a short growing season.
Long-maturing crops like melons, sweet potatoes, and winter squash can run out of runway before the first hard freeze, ripening late or not at all.
Lead with fast-maturing varieties, and stretch the season on both ends with cold frames, low tunnels, or a greenhouse.
NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Winter hardiness
MeasuredRegent sits in USDA hardiness zone 4a.
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 Regent is in
Regent sits in the Northwestern Great Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Regent's own centroid rather than borrowed from Hettinger County.
What Grows in Regent
Every plant below cleared Regent's own zone 4a and its 149-day season. Each card opens that plant's North Dakota profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Regent?
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 9; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 7 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 3 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. When the window is tight, the fall moves are quick ones — baby greens, radishes, and garlic set for next season.
What's on the federal record near Regent
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Regent. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- 134-095-13ACDNitrate · 350 ft
- Regent GarageUnderground Storage Tanks · 550 ft
- Alliance Ag Coop (old FUOC)Underground Storage Tanks · 700 ft
- Central Dakota Frontier CooperativeUnderground Storage Tanks · 850 ft
- Marlof Dakota Farms Cheese IncUnderground Storage Tanks · 950 ft
- 134-094-08DCCNitrate · 2.0 mi
- 135-094-31CCCNitrate · 2.5 mi
- 134-095-03CCDNitrate · 2.9 mi
- 134-094-32AAA1Nitrate · 3.5 mi
- 134-095-20AAANitrate · 3.7 mi
- 135-094-33DDDNitrate · 4.2 mi
- 135-094-19CCC2Nitrate · 4.5 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Regent'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 Regent.
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Regent
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Regent, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 42 sites within ~10 miles of Regent. It's not cause for alarm — it's worth knowing, and there's a sensible way to grow around it.
Nitrate: Nitrate contamination primarily comes from agricultural fertilizer runoff and failing septic systems.
Test well water for nitrate if you rely on a private well for irrigation (EPA standard: 10 mg/L).
Check your specific parcel in Regent
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 Regent average
Your land is one point inside Regent
Everything above resolves to Regent as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 358 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 city 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 Regent Average
Regent Average
- ●USDA Zones 4a, averaged across Regent
- ●One soil character for all of Regent
- ●Frost dates read at Regent's scale: May 7 to Oct 3
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Regent's 4a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Regent
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Regent, North Dakota — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Regent averages can't show:
We read public map data around Regent — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Regent average
How we know this about Regent
The datasets: hardiness from the USDA ARS Plant Hardiness Zone Map 2023, read at this city’s own centroid; hard-freeze dates from NOAA 1991–2020 28°F normals at Regent’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 city grain anywhere on this page — there is no city-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 Regent
When does frost risk typically end in Regent?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Regent typically lands around May 7, 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 28.
When is the first frost in Regent?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Regent typically arrives around Oct 3, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 19, so the watching starts about Sep 3 — about 149 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Regent?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Regent sees about 149 frost-free days — roughly May 7 through Oct 3, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 28 to Sep 19, about 114 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Regent?
The federal record around Regent is light — 47 documented sites across the 9 federal source types we checked, mostly Nitrate entries (42), the nearest Nitrate record under a tenth of a mile 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 gardeners stretch the season in Regent?
With about 149 frost-free days between hard freezes, Regent rewards the classic extension moves: floating row cover buys roughly two to four extra weeks at each shoulder — on this season that is a working window nearer 177 to 205 days — and cold frames or low tunnels buy more. Starting transplants indoors ahead of the May 7 hard-freeze normal stretches the season without touching the calendar.
Everything above is measured at Regent's scale — its 4a band and its 149-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Regent'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 Regent’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Regent's own scale — its own ~149-day season between 28°F freezes, the 358 acres it covers and 47 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Regent's own USDA hardiness band, zones 4aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Regent's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 7 and Oct 3 and the ~149-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 47 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Regent, the closest Nitrate record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Regent's boundary and the 358 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 4a and a ~149-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Regent's own centroid, the Northwestern Great PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Regent's 358 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Hettinger County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Hettinger County
- The growing challenges every North Dakota grower plans around — written at state scale, so they stay on the state guidefrom North Dakota
- Butterfly and beetle records, and the farmland pesticide estimate — all published county-widefrom Hettinger County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Regent's 358 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Regent you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 358 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Nitrate record under a tenth of a mile 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 Regent-wide figureread your own land →
More in North Dakota
Wider growing context
What grows across North DakotaRegent sits outside our named growing regions, so North Dakota as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides