Orland Colony, South Dakota, sits in USDA hardiness zone 5a — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
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 Orland 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 Orland 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 Orland Colony — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Orland Colony — the short answer
Orland Colony, South Dakota: USDA zone 5a, about 176 days between hard freezes, across 324 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 5a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 20
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 13
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~176
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 324 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 Orland Colony's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Orland Colony's 176-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Orland Colony
Each reading below is measured for Orland Colony itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredOrland Colony runs about 176 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
MeasuredOrland Colony 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 Orland Colony is in
Orland Colony sits in the Northern Glaciated Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Orland Colony's own centroid rather than borrowed from McCook County.
What Grows in Orland Colony
Every plant below cleared Orland Colony's own zone 5a and its 176-day season. Each card opens that plant's South Dakota profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Orland Colony?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 23; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 20 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 13 — 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 Orland Colony
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Orland Colony. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- DIAMOND LAKE TOWERUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.9 mi
- 105N53W31BBBBNitrate · 3.7 mi
- 103N53W15CDDCNitrate · 7.2 mi
- 105N54W14BBBBNitrate · 7.3 mi
- MONTROSE GAS PLUS INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 7.3 mi
- MONTROSE SCHOOL DISTRICT #43-2Brownfields · 8.3 mi
- 103N53W27BACBNitrate · 8.4 mi
- MONTROSE SCHOOL DIST 43-2Underground Storage Tanks · 8.5 mi
- MONTROSE SCHOOLBrownfields · 8.5 mi
- FISH AND WILDLIFE SERVICEUnderground Storage Tanks · 9.1 mi
Measured from Orland 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 Orland Colony.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Orland Colony
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Orland Colony
Highest-Severity Sites
Know Before You Grow
- •On a private well, test for nitrates: above 10 mg/L the water needs treatment before irrigating.
- •Underground tanks leak petroleum as they age — near a former filling station, test the soil.
- •Near a brownfield, raised beds of imported soil give your food clean ground.
Check your specific parcel in Orland 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 Orland Colony average
Your land is one point inside Orland Colony
Everything above resolves to Orland Colony as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 324 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 Orland Colony Average
Orland Colony Average
- ●USDA Zones 5a, averaged across Orland Colony
- ●One soil character for all of Orland Colony
- ●Frost dates read at Orland Colony's scale: Apr 20 to Oct 13
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Orland Colony's 5a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Orland Colony
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Orland Colony, South Dakota — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Orland Colony averages can't show:
We read public map data around Orland Colony — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Orland Colony average
How we know this about Orland 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 Orland 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 Orland Colony
When does frost risk typically end in Orland Colony?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Orland Colony typically lands around Apr 20, 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 11.
When is the first frost in Orland Colony?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Orland Colony typically arrives around Oct 13, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 29, so the watching starts about Sep 13 — about 176 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Orland Colony?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Orland Colony sees about 176 frost-free days — roughly Apr 20 through Oct 13, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 11 to Sep 29, about 141 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Orland Colony?
The federal record around Orland Colony is light — 14 documented sites across the 9 federal source types we checked, mostly Nitrate entries (8), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 1.9 miles out — and proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard. Growing food here starts from a strong position; a soil test before new food beds settles any site-specific question.
How do I protect my plants from frost in Orland Colony?
From about Sep 13 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 13 (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 13. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Orland Colony's scale — its 5a band and its 176-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Orland 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 Orland Colony’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Orland Colony's own scale — its own ~176-day season between 28°F freezes, the 324 acres it covers and 14 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Orland Colony's own USDA hardiness band, zones 5aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Orland Colony's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 20 and Oct 13 and the ~176-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 14 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Orland Colony, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 1.9 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Orland Colony's boundary and the 324 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 5a and a ~176-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Orland Colony's own centroid, the Northern Glaciated PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Orland Colony's 324 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom McCook County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom McCook 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 McCook County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Orland Colony's 324 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Orland 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 324 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 1.9 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 Orland Colony-wide figureread your own land →