The North Missouri Glaciated Plains (Green Hills) spans USDA hardiness zones 5b-6a — enough range to grow cool-season vegetables, hardy fruit, and warm-season crops that mature before the first hard frost.
The cold, short-season top of Missouri. This northern glaciated tier holds all five of the state's only USDA zone 5b counties, with frost-free windows of roughly 202-208 days — a full hardiness zone and several planting weeks shorter than central Missouri or the Bootheel. Rolling glacial till and claypan prairie soils, later spring frosts (last frost mid-April), and earlier fall frosts (first frost late October) mean a firmly northern planting calendar built around cold-hardy varieties — not an Ozark one. Expect tomato, peach, dogwood, and blackberry to be strong candidates here; the deciding factors on any one parcel stay local — soil, sun, and drainage.
The North Missouri Glaciated Plains (Green Hills) spans Missouri.
Your yard isn't all of the North Missouri Glaciated Plains (Green Hills).
The North Missouri Glaciated Plains (Green Hills) spans USDA zones 5b-6a, but your parcel sits in exactly one — and slope, tree cover, and low spots nudge it further. 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 North Missouri Glaciated Plains (Green Hills) — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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The North Missouri Glaciated Plains (Green Hills) — the short answer
The North Missouri Glaciated Plains (Green Hills): USDA zones 5b-6a, 202–208 frost-free days, in Missouri.
- USDA zones
- 5b-6a
- USDA PHZM 2023, aggregated over the footprint
- Frost-free season
- 202–208 days
- NOAA Regional Climate Centers ACIS, 1991-2020
- Counties
- 8
- US Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Region type
- County cluster
- Growable Ground growing-region registry
Region boundary: Growable Ground growing-region registry — curated county clusters, EPA Level III ecoregions, and town clusters drawn finer than any county. Where a region publishes no measured season, no season figure is shown.
Hardiness Zone Range
What Grows in the North Missouri Glaciated Plains (Green Hills)
Plants matched to the North Missouri Glaciated Plains (Green Hills)'s USDA zones 5b-6a, ordered by how much hardiness margin each has across the region — the ones with room to spare at both ends of this band lead. Each links to its full growing profile.
Native Plants of the North Missouri Glaciated Plains (Green Hills)
Plants the USDA PLANTS Database documents as native and present in this region’s state, kept only where the published hardiness range meets the North Missouri Glaciated Plains (Green Hills)’s USDA zones 5b-6a — closest range match first. Presence is recorded by state, so a plant can be documented across the state and still be scarce in your corner of the region.
The ground across the North Missouri Glaciated Plains (Green Hills)
The USDA soil survey maps this ground county by county. These are those records weighted by land area across eight member counties — this region’s own profile, not a state figure.
The ground is predominantly Alfisols, at 52% of mapped acres, followed by Mollisols (35%), Entisols (7%) and Inceptisols (5%). Five soil orders appear somewhere inside the footprint, which is the honest reason a regional soil answer only goes so far. The most extensive named soils are Gara, Armstrong, and Sharpsburg.
34% of those acres are well drained, and another 31% somewhat poorly drained, 22% moderately well drained. Topsoil pH runs 5.6–7.3 between the lowest and the highest county on record. 14% of the footprint is classed prime farmland.
Soil order
Alfisols
Drainage
Well drained
Topsoil pH
5.6–7.3
Hydric soils
12%
Soil changes across a driveway, so which of these your own ground sits on is a parcel question rather than a regional one. Harrison County holds the most wetland ground here, at 18% — soil types explained.
USDA NRCS SSURGO via Soil Data Access
What this means for growing in the North Missouri Glaciated Plains (Green Hills)
The soil survey reads this ground county by county, and the readings above are those records summed across the North Missouri Glaciated Plains (Green Hills). Here is what they mean for a garden here — and the move an experienced grower makes about each one.
Drainage
From county records34% of the mapped acres across the North Missouri Glaciated Plains (Green Hills) are well drained — ground that drains quickly. That is area-weighted across all eight of its mapped counties.
The upside is soil you can work early in spring and roots that never drown; the cost is that fast-draining ground dries out fast and leaches nutrients away before plants can use them.
Work in compost and mulch to hold moisture and feed, and water more often in short doses than deep and rarely.
USDA NRCS SSURGO
Surface pH
From county recordsTopsoil across the North Missouri Glaciated Plains (Green Hills) runs pH 5.6–7.3 — near neutral in all eight of them.
This is the range most vegetables prefer — one correction you probably do not have to make, which is genuinely good news for a new bed.
Keep it there with compost rather than lime or sulfur, and only amend if your own soil test says otherwise.
USDA NRCS SSURGO
Safe to Grow Here?
What the federal record shows across the North Missouri Glaciated Plains (Green Hills) — and how to grow with it.
Across the North Missouri Glaciated Plains (Green Hills)'s 8 counties the federal record holds 531 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks (207), Nitrate (196) and CAFO (59). The heaviest single county is Nodaway County, with 114.
That is a regional count, not a reading of any one lot — proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis. Open the map outlined to the North Missouri Glaciated Plains (Green Hills) to see which records sit where you actually grow.
Sources Checked
Summed across the 8 counties in the North Missouri Glaciated Plains (Green Hills)
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around the North Missouri Glaciated Plains (Green Hills), two things run higher than the national average across the 8 counties in the North Missouri Glaciated Plains (Green Hills) — CAFO (59 sites) and PFAS (7 sites). It's not cause for alarm — it's worth knowing, and there's a sensible way to grow around it.
CAFO: CAFOs pose a different contamination profile than chemical sources.
PFAS: PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) are called "forever chemicals" because they do not biodegrade.
Wash all produce consumed raw thoroughly, especially leafy greens grown near CAFOs.
Test irrigation water source — this is the primary pathway for PFAS to reach garden crops.
Sources: EPA, USGS — 1.8M documented sites tracked nationwide across 9 federal source types.
Your land is one point inside the North Missouri Glaciated Plains (Green Hills)
Everything above resolves to the North Missouri Glaciated Plains (Green Hills) as a whole — a footprint spanning USDA zones 5b-6a. Your parcel sits in exactly one of them. 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 region 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 regional average.
Your Lot vs the North Missouri Glaciated Plains (Green Hills) Average
North Missouri Glaciated Plains (Green Hills) Average
- ●USDA Zones 5b-6a, averaged across North Missouri Glaciated Plains (Green Hills)
- ●One soil character for all of North Missouri Glaciated Plains (Green Hills)
- ●State-average frost dates
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not North Missouri Glaciated Plains (Green Hills)'s 5b-6a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your parcel in the North Missouri Glaciated Plains (Green Hills)
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in the North Missouri Glaciated Plains (Green Hills) — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, contamination, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that North Missouri Glaciated Plains (Green Hills) averages can't show:
We read public map data around The North Missouri Glaciated Plains (Green Hills) — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the North Missouri Glaciated Plains (Green Hills) average
How we know this about the North Missouri Glaciated Plains (Green Hills)
The boundary: a cluster of neighboring counties. Growing regions have no official boundary, so this footprint is our published one, and every figure on this page was measured over the counties inside it rather than borrowed from the state around it.
The datasets: hardiness from the USDA ARS Plant Hardiness Zone Map 2023, aggregated across the footprint; the growing season from NOAA Regional Climate Centers ACIS 1991–2020 28°F normals, read at each member’s own record; boundaries from US Census TIGER/Line 2025; the contamination record from the federal sources named in that beat above; the soil from the USDA NRCS SSURGO survey, read at each member county’s own record and weighted to this footprint by land area. Where a member carries no record of its own, it is absent from the figure rather than filled in.
Common questions about the North Missouri Glaciated Plains (Green Hills)
What hardiness zone is the North Missouri Glaciated Plains (Green Hills)?
The North Missouri Glaciated Plains (Green Hills) spans USDA hardiness zones 5b-6a, aggregated from the USDA Agricultural Research Service Plant Hardiness Zone Map 2023 across the region's counties. Zones reflect average annual extreme minimum temperatures from 1991–2020 data.
How long is the growing season in the North Missouri Glaciated Plains (Green Hills)?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, the North Missouri Glaciated Plains (Green Hills)'s counties mostly run 203 to 207 frost-free days, median 205 (NOAA Regional Climate Centers ACIS, 1991–2020, over 8 member counties). That 4-day spread is the honest read — no single season describes 8 counties, and each county guide below carries its own.
When does frost risk end in the North Missouri Glaciated Plains (Green Hills)?
Across the North Missouri Glaciated Plains (Green Hills), the middle half of member counties see their last 28°F hard freeze between Apr 6 and Apr 6 (median Apr 6), and their first fall freeze between Oct 26 and Oct 29. Those are hard freezes, not the last light frost: tender transplants wait for about Apr 27, and elevation decides which end of a 0-day spread you garden in.
What grows well in the North Missouri Glaciated Plains (Green Hills)?
The North Missouri Glaciated Plains (Green Hills)'s conditions suit plants such as Tomato, Peach, Dogwood, Blackberry, Grape. What actually thrives on any one site still turns on its specific soil, sun, and drainage — we score each plant against the real conditions at your address.
How is the North Missouri Glaciated Plains (Green Hills) defined?
The North Missouri Glaciated Plains (Green Hills) is defined here as a curated cluster of 8 neighboring counties that share a growing character. Growing regions have no official boundary, so this footprint is our published one — every county in it is named on this page.
Which states does the North Missouri Glaciated Plains (Green Hills) cover?
The North Missouri Glaciated Plains (Green Hills) spans Missouri. Each state's full growing guide is linked on this page.
What other growing regions cover the same states?
Mississippi Delta, The Ozarks, Missouri Bootheel, and St. Louis Metro share at least one state with the North Missouri Glaciated Plains (Green Hills). Growing regions overlap and interlock — a single address can sit inside more than one, which is why the precise read is always the parcel, not the region.
What this page reads at the North Missouri Glaciated Plains (Green Hills)’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at the North Missouri Glaciated Plains (Green Hills)'s own scale — the zone 5b-6a band across its footprint, a median 205-day season across its 8 counties and 531 documented federal contamination records across its 8 counties, 114 of them in Nodaway County alone; one is borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- The USDA hardiness band 5b-6a aggregated across all 8 counties in the footprintUSDA PHZM 2023
- The boundary itself — the 8 counties this region is curated fromGrowable Ground subregion registry
- The growing character that makes this region distinct from the states it crossesGrowable Ground subregion registry
- The 28°F season across the footprint — the middle half of its 8 counties run 203 to 207 frost-free days, median 205NOAA Regional Climate Centers ACIS, 1991-2020
- The federal contamination record over the whole footprint — 531 documented federal contamination records across its 8 counties, 114 of them in Nodaway County aloneEPA, USGS and USDA federal site records
- The soil order mix across the footprint — 52% Alfisols, topsoil pH 5.6–7.3, area-weighted across its 8 mapped countiesUSDA NRCS SSURGO
Inherited from a wider read
- The candidate plant list — its state's curated sets, merged and filtered to zones 5b-6afrom Missouri
What this page can’t tell you
- Which end of the 4-day range your ground sits at — 203 days at one extreme, 207 at the other, decided mostly by elevationfrost dates explained →
- Which of those soils your own ground sits on — the survey maps them county-wide, and they change across a drivewaysoil types explained →
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on one specific lotwhy one lot differs from the next →
Explore the North Missouri Glaciated Plains (Green Hills)
State growing guides
Counties in this region
Other growing regions across Missouri
The flat, deep, dark alluvial bottomland of the lower Mississippi River — extraordinarily fertile cotton, soybean, rice, and sweet-potato ground.
A rugged Interior Highlands of cherty, rocky soils, oak-hickory forest, and clear streams — brambles, peaches, and tough hill gardens.
Missouri's warmest, longest-season corner — the flat Mississippi Alluvial Plain south of the Ozark escarpment, where USDA zone 7a-7b and up to 258 frost-free days run a full 1.5-2 zones ahead of the rocky uplands 100 miles north. On these deep, drained delta soils growers keep a Delta calendar, not a Missouri one: cotton, rice, soybeans, and melons, with a spring that opens 3-4 weeks earlier than the rest of the state.
Greater St. Louis runs a full half-zone warmer than the countryside wrapped around it: the city and St. Louis County both read USDA zone 7a with a 237-242-day frost-free season, while the neighboring St. Charles and Jefferson countryside holds at 6b (221-229 days). The Missouri-Mississippi confluence and the city's urban heat island push last frost earlier and first frost later — the longest growing season anywhere in Missouri outside the Bootheel — long enough to matter for heat-lovers and a real second planting.