Ravinia, 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 Ravinia, 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 Ravinia 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 Ravinia — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Ravinia — the short answer
Ravinia, South Dakota: USDA zone 5a, about 180 days between hard freezes, across 159 acres of town.
- 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 18
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~180
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 159 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 Ravinia's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Ravinia's 180-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Ravinia
Each reading below is measured for Ravinia itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredRavinia runs about 180 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
MeasuredRavinia 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 Ravinia is in
Ravinia sits in the Northwestern Glaciated Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Ravinia's own centroid rather than borrowed from Charles Mix County.
What Grows in Ravinia
Every plant below cleared Ravinia's own zone 5a and its 180-day season. Each card opens that plant's South Dakota profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Ravinia?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. 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 18 — 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 Ravinia
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Ravinia. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- CITY OF RAVINAUnderground Storage Tanks · 200 ft
- 96N64W17AAADNitrate · 1300 ft
- 96N64W 7AAAANitrate · 1.6 mi
- 96N64W 7ABCD2Nitrate · 1.8 mi
- 96N64W 6ACDANitrate · 2.3 mi
- 96N64W12CBBB CM-68ENitrate · 3.1 mi
- 96N64W26CCBBNitrate · 3.1 mi
- 96N65W 1ABCBNitrate · 3.2 mi
- 97N64W27CCCBNitrate · 3.5 mi
- 96N64W 1BCCCNitrate · 3.5 mi
- 97N64W31BAAANitrate · 3.7 mi
- 97N64W35DADANitrate · 3.8 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Ravinia'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 Ravinia.
Total Sites
174
within ~10 miles of Ravinia
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
3 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Ravinia
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Ravinia
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Ravinia, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Ravinia — Nitrate (136 sites) and Superfund (3 sites). 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.
Superfund: Superfund sites represent the most severe contamination in the federal system.
Test well water for nitrate if you rely on a private well for irrigation (EPA standard: 10 mg/L).
Commission professional soil testing before any food production (test for heavy metals, VOCs, and SVOCs).
Check your specific parcel in Ravinia
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 Ravinia average
Your land is one point inside Ravinia
Everything above resolves to Ravinia as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 159 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 Ravinia Average
Ravinia Average
- ●USDA Zones 5a, averaged across Ravinia
- ●One soil character for all of Ravinia
- ●Frost dates read at Ravinia's scale: Apr 21 to Oct 18
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Ravinia's 5a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Ravinia
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Ravinia, South Dakota — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Ravinia averages can't show:
We read public map data around Ravinia — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Ravinia average
How we know this about Ravinia
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 Ravinia’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 Ravinia
When does frost risk typically end in Ravinia?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Ravinia 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 Ravinia?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Ravinia typically arrives around Oct 18, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 4, so the watching starts about Sep 18 — about 180 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Ravinia?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Ravinia sees about 180 frost-free days — roughly Apr 21 through Oct 18, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 12 to Oct 4, about 145 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Ravinia?
The federal record around Ravinia is a meaningful one — 174 documented sites, mostly Nitrate entries (136), 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 Ravinia?
From about Sep 18 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 18 (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 18. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Ravinia's scale — its 5a band and its 180-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Ravinia'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 Ravinia’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Ravinia's own scale — its own ~180-day season between 28°F freezes, the 159 acres it covers and 174 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Ravinia's own USDA hardiness band, zones 5aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Ravinia's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 21 and Oct 18 and the ~180-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 174 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Ravinia, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Ravinia's boundary and the 159 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 5a and a ~180-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Ravinia's own centroid, the Northwestern Glaciated PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Ravinia's 159 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Charles Mix County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Charles Mix 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 Charles Mix County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Ravinia's 159 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Ravinia you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 159 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 Ravinia-wide figureread your own land →