Lennox, South Dakota, sits in USDA hardiness zone 5a — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
Reliable performers under these conditions include cabbage, cranberry, lavender, and collard greens; what your own ground favors still comes down to its soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Lennox, 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 Lennox 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 Lennox — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Lennox — the short answer
Lennox, South Dakota: USDA zone 5a, about 178 days between hard freezes, across 1K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 5a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 21
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 16
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~178
- 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 5a is Lennox's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Lennox's 178-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Lennox
Each reading below is measured for Lennox itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredLennox runs about 178 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
MeasuredLennox 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 Lennox is in
Lennox sits in the Northern Glaciated Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Lennox's own centroid rather than borrowed from Lincoln County.
What Grows in Lennox
Every plant below cleared Lennox's own zone 5a and its 178-day season. Each card opens that plant's South Dakota profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Lennox?
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 24; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 21 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 16 — 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 Lennox
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Lennox. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- STAKE CONST COUnderground Storage Tanks · 500 ft
- LENNOX SCHOOL DIST 41-4Underground Storage Tanks · 900 ft
- CARLS SERVICEUnderground Storage Tanks · 1300 ft
- DAVEY REPAIRBrownfields · 1800 ft
- 99N51W32ACDA2Nitrate · 1800 ft
- 99N51W32ACDANitrate · 1800 ft
- DENNYS PAINT & BODYBrownfields · 2100 ft
- JIM VAILUnderground Storage Tanks · 2400 ft
- 99N51W32DDDDNitrate · 2400 ft
- PROTEC ENGINEERED BUILDINGSBrownfields · 0.5 mi
- JERRYS AUTO BODY, INC.Brownfields · 0.5 mi
- SIOUX STEEL, PRO-TEC DIVISIONToxics Release Inventory · 0.5 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Lennox'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 Lennox.
Total Sites
268
within ~10 miles of Lennox
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
10 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Lennox
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Lennox
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Lennox, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 200 sites within ~10 miles of Lennox. 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 Lennox
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 Lennox average
Your land is one point inside Lennox
Everything above resolves to Lennox 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 Lennox Average
Lennox Average
- ●USDA Zones 5a, averaged across Lennox
- ●One soil character for all of Lennox
- ●Frost dates read at Lennox's scale: Apr 21 to Oct 16
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Lennox's 5a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Lennox
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Lennox, South Dakota — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Lennox averages can't show:
We read public map data around Lennox — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Lennox average
How we know this about Lennox
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 Lennox’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 Lennox
When does frost risk typically end in Lennox?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Lennox typically lands around Apr 21, 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 12.
When is the first frost in Lennox?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Lennox typically arrives around Oct 16, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 2, so the watching starts about Sep 16 — about 178 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Lennox?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Lennox sees about 178 frost-free days — roughly Apr 21 through Oct 16, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 12 to Oct 2, about 143 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Lennox?
The federal record around Lennox is a meaningful one — 268 documented sites, mostly Nitrate entries (200), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out — so a soil test before new food beds is a sensible precaution here, not a reason to hold back from growing. Remember that proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard; the contamination map shows exactly what sits where.
How do I protect my plants from frost in Lennox?
From about Sep 16 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 16 (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 16. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Lennox's scale — its 5a band and its 178-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Lennox'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 Lennox’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Lennox's own scale — its own ~178-day season between 28°F freezes, the 1,167 acres it covers and 268 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Lennox's own USDA hardiness band, zones 5aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Lennox's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 21 and Oct 16 and the ~178-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 268 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Lennox, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Lennox's boundary and the 1,167 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 5a and a ~178-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Lennox's own centroid, the Northern Glaciated PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Lennox's 1,167 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Lincoln County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Lincoln 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 Lincoln County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Lennox's 1,167 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Lennox you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,167 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile 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 Lennox-wide figureread your own land →