Greenwood Colony, South Dakota, sits in USDA hardiness zone 5b — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
Expect cabbage, cranberry, lavender, and collard greens to be strong candidates here; the deciding factors on any one parcel stay local — soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Greenwood Colony, 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 Greenwood Colony 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 Greenwood Colony — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Greenwood Colony — the short answer
Greenwood Colony, South Dakota: USDA zone 5b, about 183 days between hard freezes, across 150 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 5b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 19
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 19
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~183
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 150 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 5b is Greenwood Colony's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Greenwood Colony's 183-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Greenwood Colony
Each reading below is measured for Greenwood Colony itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredGreenwood Colony runs about 183 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
MeasuredGreenwood Colony sits in USDA hardiness zone 5b.
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 Greenwood Colony is in
Greenwood Colony sits in the Northwestern Glaciated Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Greenwood Colony's own centroid rather than borrowed from Douglas County.
What Grows in Greenwood Colony
Every plant below cleared Greenwood Colony's own zone 5b and its 183-day season. Each card opens that plant's South Dakota profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Greenwood Colony?
For most of the year, no — what changes is which crops still fit the days remaining. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 22; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 19 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 19 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. As the window narrows, the plantings just get faster — fall brassicas, then greens, then garlic to finish.
What's on the federal record near Greenwood Colony
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Greenwood Colony. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- 97N62W14DDCCNitrate · 0.8 mi
- DALE WEISSERUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.9 mi
- 98N62W34BCBDNitrate · 3.4 mi
- 97N62W 7AAAANitrate · 3.6 mi
- 98N62W34BBADNitrate · 3.6 mi
- CITY OF DELMONTUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.7 mi
- AGLAND COOPUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.7 mi
- TERRYS REPAIR SERVICEUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.7 mi
- GROSZ DRILLING CO.Underground Storage Tanks · 3.7 mi
- DOUGLAS CO HWY DEPT SHOP #4Underground Storage Tanks · 3.7 mi
- DOZYS OILUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.7 mi
- 98N62W34BBABNitrate · 3.7 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Greenwood Colony'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 Greenwood Colony.
Total Sites
144
within ~10 miles of Greenwood Colony
Risk Level
Moderate
Highest-severity
4 brownfield sites
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Greenwood Colony
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Greenwood Colony
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Greenwood Colony, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 122 sites within ~10 miles of Greenwood Colony. 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 Greenwood Colony
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 Greenwood Colony average
Your land is one point inside Greenwood Colony
Everything above resolves to Greenwood Colony as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 150 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 Greenwood Colony Average
Greenwood Colony Average
- ●USDA Zones 5b, averaged across Greenwood Colony
- ●One soil character for all of Greenwood Colony
- ●Frost dates read at Greenwood Colony's scale: Apr 19 to Oct 19
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Greenwood Colony's 5b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Greenwood Colony
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Greenwood Colony, South Dakota — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Greenwood Colony averages can't show:
We read public map data around Greenwood Colony — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Greenwood Colony average
How we know this about Greenwood Colony
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 Greenwood Colony’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 Greenwood Colony
When does frost risk typically end in Greenwood Colony?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Greenwood Colony typically lands around Apr 19, 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 10.
When is the first frost in Greenwood Colony?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Greenwood Colony typically arrives around Oct 19, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 5, so the watching starts about Sep 19 — about 183 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Greenwood Colony?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Greenwood Colony sees about 183 frost-free days — roughly Apr 19 through Oct 19, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 10 to Oct 5, about 148 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Greenwood Colony?
The federal record around Greenwood Colony shows 144 documented sites, mostly Nitrate entries (122), the nearest Nitrate record about 0.8 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 Greenwood Colony?
From about Sep 19 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 19 (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 19. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Greenwood Colony's scale — its 5b band and its 183-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Greenwood Colony'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 Greenwood Colony’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Greenwood Colony's own scale — its own ~183-day season between 28°F freezes, the 150 acres it covers and 144 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Greenwood Colony's own USDA hardiness band, zones 5bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Greenwood Colony's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 19 and Oct 19 and the ~183-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 144 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Greenwood Colony, the closest Nitrate record about 0.8 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Greenwood Colony's boundary and the 150 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 5b and a ~183-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Greenwood Colony's own centroid, the Northwestern Glaciated PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Greenwood Colony's 150 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Douglas County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Douglas 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 Douglas County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Greenwood Colony's 150 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Greenwood Colony you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 150 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Nitrate record about 0.8 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 Greenwood Colony-wide figureread your own land →
More in South Dakota
Wider growing context
What grows across South DakotaGreenwood Colony sits outside our named growing regions, so South Dakota as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides