Stanton, North Dakota, sits in USDA hardiness zone 4a — room for a real mix of vegetables, fruit, and perennials matched to the local frost calendar.
Growers here do well with cabbage, cranberry, turkish rocket, and collard greens — with the usual caveat that any single yard's soil, sun, and drainage cast the deciding vote.
Even in Stanton, 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 Stanton 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 Stanton — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Stanton — the short answer
Stanton, North Dakota: USDA zone 4a, about 155 days between hard freezes, across 227 acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 4a
- 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 6
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~155
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- City area
- 227 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 Stanton's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Stanton's 155-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Stanton
Each reading below is measured for Stanton itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredStanton runs about 155 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
MeasuredStanton 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 Stanton is in
Stanton sits in the Northwestern Great Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Stanton's own centroid rather than borrowed from Mercer County.
What Grows in Stanton
Every plant below cleared Stanton's own zone 4a and its 155-day season. Each card opens that plant's North Dakota profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Stanton?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. 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 6 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. The tail of the season still works: sixty-day crops into late summer, quick greens after, garlic last of all.
What's on the federal record near Stanton
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Stanton. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- Corner Express of StantonUnderground Storage Tanks · 750 ft
- Dons Auto BodyUnderground Storage Tanks · 850 ft
- Stanton Public SchoolUnderground Storage Tanks · 900 ft
- Auto Service (former)Underground Storage Tanks · 1000 ft
- 144-085-01DDDNitrate · 1900 ft
- 145-084-34CABNitrate · 1.2 mi
- 145-084-33BDDNitrate · 1.2 mi
- 145-084-28DCC3Nitrate · 1.7 mi
- 144-085-02CDNitrate · 1.8 mi
- 145-084-32CCCNitrate · 1.8 mi
- 144-085-02BCCNitrate · 2.1 mi
- 145-084-32BCCNitrate · 2.1 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Stanton'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 Stanton.
Total Sites
100
within ~10 miles of Stanton
Risk Level
Moderate
Highest-severity
2 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Stanton
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Stanton
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Stanton, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 84 sites within ~10 miles of Stanton. That's not a problem with your land — it's information about 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 Stanton
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 Stanton average
Your land is one point inside Stanton
Everything above resolves to Stanton as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 227 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 Stanton Average
Stanton Average
- ●USDA Zones 4a, averaged across Stanton
- ●One soil character for all of Stanton
- ●Frost dates read at Stanton's scale: May 4 to Oct 6
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Stanton's 4a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Stanton
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Stanton, North Dakota — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Stanton averages can't show:
We read public map data around Stanton — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Stanton average
How we know this about Stanton
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 Stanton’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 Stanton
When does frost risk typically end in Stanton?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Stanton 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 Stanton?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Stanton typically arrives around Oct 6, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 22, so the watching starts about Sep 6 — about 155 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Stanton?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Stanton sees about 155 frost-free days — roughly May 4 through Oct 6, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 25 to Sep 22, about 120 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Stanton?
The federal record around Stanton shows 100 documented sites, mostly Nitrate entries (84), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.1 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 I protect my plants from frost in Stanton?
From about Sep 6 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 6 (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 6. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Stanton's scale — its 4a band and its 155-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Stanton'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 Stanton’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Stanton's own scale — its own ~155-day season between 28°F freezes, the 227 acres it covers and 100 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Stanton's own USDA hardiness band, zones 4aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Stanton's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 4 and Oct 6 and the ~155-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 100 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Stanton, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.1 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Stanton's boundary and the 227 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 4a and a ~155-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Stanton's own centroid, the Northwestern Great PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Stanton's 227 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Mercer County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Mercer 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 Mercer County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Stanton's 227 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Stanton you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 227 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 Stanton-wide figureread your own land →
More in North Dakota
Wider growing context
What grows across North DakotaStanton sits outside our named growing regions, so North Dakota as a whole is its closest context here.