Rugby, North Dakota, sits in USDA hardiness zone 3b — room for a real mix of vegetables, fruit, and perennials matched to the local frost calendar.
Growers here do well with cabbage, cranberry, epazote, and collard greens — with the usual caveat that any single yard's soil, sun, and drainage cast the deciding vote.
Even in Rugby, 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 Rugby 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 Rugby — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Rugby — the short answer
Rugby, North Dakota: USDA zone 3b, about 147 days between hard freezes, across 1K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 3b
- 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 1
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~147
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- City area
- 1K 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 3b is Rugby's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Rugby's 147-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Rugby
Each reading below is measured for Rugby itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredRugby runs about 147 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
MeasuredRugby sits in USDA hardiness zone 3b.
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 Rugby is in
Rugby sits in the Northern Glaciated Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Rugby's own centroid rather than borrowed from Pierce County.
What Grows in Rugby
Every plant below cleared Rugby's own zone 3b and its 147-day season. Each card opens that plant's North Dakota profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Rugby?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. 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 1 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. Short seasons reward decisiveness — quick-maturing varieties late, hardy greens under cover, and next year’s garlic in the ground before it closes.
What's on the federal record near Rugby
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Rugby. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- 156-073-01BNitrate · 1100 ft
- Daves Standard ServiceUnderground Storage Tanks · 1500 ft
- Pierce CountyUnderground Storage Tanks · 1600 ft
- US West Rugby Central OfficeUnderground Storage Tanks · 1600 ft
- HEART OF AMERICA MEDICAL CENTER (HAMC) CAMPUSBrownfields · 1700 ft
- Budget CornerUnderground Storage Tanks · 1800 ft
- Schaan Oil CompanyUnderground Storage Tanks · 2000 ft
- 156-073-01BBANitrate · 2100 ft
- Rugby StationUnderground Storage Tanks · 2100 ft
- Johnsons Plumbing ServiceUnderground Storage Tanks · 2100 ft
- RUGBY MFG COToxics Release Inventory · 2200 ft
- RUGBY MFG COBrownfields · 2200 ft
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Rugby'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 Rugby.
Total Sites
133
within ~10 miles of Rugby
Risk Level
Moderate
Highest-severity
1 Toxics Release Inventory facility
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Rugby
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Rugby
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Rugby, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 106 sites within ~10 miles of Rugby. Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
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 Rugby
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 Rugby average
Your land is one point inside Rugby
Everything above resolves to Rugby as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 1K 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 Rugby Average
Rugby Average
- ●USDA Zones 3b, averaged across Rugby
- ●One soil character for all of Rugby
- ●Frost dates read at Rugby's scale: May 7 to Oct 1
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Rugby's 3b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Rugby
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Rugby, North Dakota — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Rugby averages can't show:
We read public map data around Rugby — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Rugby average
How we know this about Rugby
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 Rugby’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 Rugby
When does frost risk typically end in Rugby?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Rugby 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 Rugby?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Rugby typically arrives around Oct 1, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 17, so the watching starts about Sep 1 — about 147 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Rugby?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Rugby sees about 147 frost-free days — roughly May 7 through Oct 1, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 28 to Sep 17, about 112 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Rugby?
The federal record around Rugby shows 133 documented sites, mostly Nitrate entries (106), the nearest Nitrate record about 0.2 miles out — a typical footprint for a growing area, and proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard. It's worth seeing which recorded sites sit closest to where you grow, and testing the soil before new food beds near any of them.
How do gardeners stretch the season in Rugby?
With about 147 frost-free days between hard freezes, Rugby 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 175 to 203 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 Rugby's scale — its 3b band and its 147-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Rugby'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 Rugby’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Rugby's own scale — its own ~147-day season between 28°F freezes, the 1,462 acres it covers and 133 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Rugby's own USDA hardiness band, zones 3bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Rugby's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 7 and Oct 1 and the ~147-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 133 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Rugby, the closest Nitrate record about 0.2 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Rugby's boundary and the 1,462 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 3b and a ~147-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Rugby's own centroid, the Northern Glaciated PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Rugby's 1,462 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Pierce County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Pierce 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 Pierce County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Rugby's 1,462 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Rugby you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,462 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Nitrate record about 0.2 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 Rugby-wide figureread your own land →
More in North Dakota
Wider growing context
What grows across North DakotaRugby sits outside our named growing regions, so North Dakota as a whole is its closest context here.