Antelope, South Dakota, sits in USDA hardiness zone 5a — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
A short list that earns its place here — cabbage, cranberry, lavender, and collard greens — with any one site's soil, sun, and drainage making the final cut.
Even in Antelope, 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 Antelope 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 Antelope — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Antelope — the short answer
Antelope, South Dakota: USDA zone 5a, about 163 days between hard freezes, across 1K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 5a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 2
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 12
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~163
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town 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 5a is Antelope's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Antelope's 163-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Antelope
Each reading below is measured for Antelope itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredAntelope runs about 163 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
MeasuredAntelope sits in USDA hardiness zone 5a.
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 Antelope is in
Antelope sits in the Northwestern Great Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Antelope's own centroid rather than borrowed from Todd County.
What Grows in Antelope
Every plant below cleared Antelope's own zone 5a and its 163-day season. Each card opens that plant's South Dakota profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Antelope?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. Cool-season crops can go in from around Apr 4; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 2 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 12 — 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 Antelope
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Antelope. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- ROSEBUD RECYCLINGBrownfields · 0.9 mi
- THE GUS STOPUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.0 mi
- RITTER'S PAWN & GASUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.1 mi
- RALPH'S BODY SHOP & WRECKER SERVICEUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.1 mi
- LAKEVIEW ELEMENTARYUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.1 mi
- LITTLEBURG ELEMENTARYUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.1 mi
- EDWARD CHARBONNEAUUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.2 mi
- NAPA AUTO PARTSBrownfields · 1.4 mi
- TODD COUNTY HIGH SCHOOLBrownfields · 1.4 mi
- E-24Underground Storage Tanks · 1.5 mi
- AMOCO FOOD SHOP #7Brownfields · 1.5 mi
- 38N28W 5AACNitrate · 1.5 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Antelope'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 Antelope.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Antelope
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Antelope
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Antelope, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 28 sites within ~10 miles of Antelope. 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 Antelope
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 Antelope average
Your land is one point inside Antelope
Everything above resolves to Antelope 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 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 Antelope Average
Antelope Average
- ●USDA Zones 5a, averaged across Antelope
- ●One soil character for all of Antelope
- ●Frost dates read at Antelope's scale: May 2 to Oct 12
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Antelope's 5a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Antelope
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Antelope, South Dakota — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Antelope averages can't show:
We read public map data around Antelope — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Antelope average
How we know this about Antelope
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 Antelope’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 Antelope
When does frost risk typically end in Antelope?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Antelope typically lands around May 2, 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 23.
When is the first frost in Antelope?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Antelope typically arrives around Oct 12, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 28, so the watching starts about Sep 12 — about 163 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Antelope?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Antelope sees about 163 frost-free days — roughly May 2 through Oct 12, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 23 to Sep 28, about 128 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Antelope?
The federal record around Antelope shows 45 documented sites, mostly Nitrate entries (28), the nearest Brownfields record about 0.9 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 Antelope?
From about Sep 12 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 12 (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 12. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Antelope's scale — its 5a band and its 163-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Antelope'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 Antelope’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Antelope's own scale — its own ~163-day season between 28°F freezes, the 1,463 acres it covers and 45 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Antelope's own USDA hardiness band, zones 5aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Antelope's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 2 and Oct 12 and the ~163-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 45 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Antelope, the closest Brownfields record about 0.9 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Antelope's boundary and the 1,463 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 5a and a ~163-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Antelope's own centroid, the Northwestern Great PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Antelope's 1,463 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Todd County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Todd County
- The growing challenges every South Dakota grower plans around — written at state scale, so they stay on the state guidefrom South Dakota
- Butterfly and beetle records, and the farmland pesticide estimate — all published county-widefrom Todd County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Antelope's 1,463 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Antelope you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,463 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Brownfields record about 0.9 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 Antelope-wide figureread your own land →
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