Pierre, South Dakota, sits in USDA hardiness zone 5a — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
The conditions favor cabbage, cranberry, lavender, and collard greens, among others — though every individual site edits that list with its own soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Pierre, 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 Pierre 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 Pierre — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Pierre — the short answer
Pierre, South Dakota: USDA zone 5a, about 170 days between hard freezes, across 8K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 5a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 25
- 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
- ~170
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- City area
- 8K 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 Pierre's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Pierre's 170-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Pierre
Each reading below is measured for Pierre itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredPierre runs about 170 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
MeasuredPierre 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 Pierre is in
Pierre sits in the Northwestern Great Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Pierre's own centroid, and it is not what its county reads: Hughes County is mostly Northwestern Glaciated Plains. The wider page above you is answering a different question about different ground.
What Grows in Pierre
Every plant below cleared Pierre's own zone 5a and its 170-day season. Each card opens that plant's South Dakota profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Pierre?
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 28; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 25 (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. Late in the year the fall bench takes over — quick greens, radishes, and garlic that repays you next summer.
What's on the federal record near Pierre
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Pierre. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- WAL-MART STORE #1685Brownfields · 1000 ft
- K-MART #9273Underground Storage Tanks · 1300 ft
- COWBOY COUNTRY STORE #5Underground Storage Tanks · 1400 ft
- PIERRE HUSKYUnderground Storage Tanks · 2000 ft
- BECK MOTORS, INC. COLLISION CENTERBrownfields · 0.5 mi
- SD DOT - BUILDING BBrownfields · 0.7 mi
- SD DEPT OF TRANSPORTATIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.9 mi
- PARK SHOPUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.9 mi
- SD DOH - HEALTH LABORATORYBrownfields · 0.9 mi
- CULTURAL URANIUMSuperfund · 1.0 mi
- SD STATE HISTORICAL SOCIETY MUSEUMBrownfields · 1.0 mi
- BECK MOTORS INCBrownfields · 1.1 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Pierre'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 Pierre.
Total Sites
180
within ~10 miles of Pierre
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
2 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Pierre
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Pierre
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Pierre, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 78 sites within ~10 miles of Pierre. That's not a problem with your land — it's information about 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 Pierre
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 Pierre average
Your land is one point inside Pierre
Everything above resolves to Pierre as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 8K 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 Pierre Average
Pierre Average
- ●USDA Zones 5a, averaged across Pierre
- ●One soil character for all of Pierre
- ●Frost dates read at Pierre's scale: Apr 25 to Oct 12
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Pierre's 5a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Pierre
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Pierre, South Dakota — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Pierre averages can't show:
We read public map data around Pierre — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Pierre average
How we know this about Pierre
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 Pierre’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 Pierre
When does frost risk typically end in Pierre?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Pierre typically lands around Apr 25, 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 16.
When is the first frost in Pierre?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Pierre 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 170 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Pierre?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Pierre sees about 170 frost-free days — roughly Apr 25 through Oct 12, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 16 to Sep 28, about 135 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Pierre?
The federal record around Pierre is a meaningful one — 180 documented sites, mostly Nitrate entries (78), the nearest Brownfields record about 0.2 miles 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 Pierre?
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 Pierre's scale — its 5a band and its 170-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Pierre'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 Pierre’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Pierre's own scale — its own ~170-day season between 28°F freezes, the 8,337 acres it covers and 180 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Pierre's own USDA hardiness band, zones 5aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Pierre's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 25 and Oct 12 and the ~170-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 180 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Pierre, the closest Brownfields record about 0.2 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Pierre's boundary and the 8,337 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 5a and a ~170-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- Pierre sits in the Northwestern Great Plains — not the ecoregion its county mostly readsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Pierre's 8,337 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Hughes County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Hughes 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 Hughes County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Pierre's 8,337 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Pierre you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 8,337 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Brownfields record about 0.2 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 Pierre-wide figureread your own land →
More in South Dakota
Wider growing context
What grows across South DakotaPierre sits outside our named growing regions, so South Dakota as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides