Rosebud, South Dakota, sits in USDA hardiness zone 5a — enough range to grow cool-season vegetables, hardy fruit, and warm-season crops that mature before the first hard frost.
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 Rosebud, 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 Rosebud 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 Rosebud — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Rosebud — the short answer
Rosebud, South Dakota: USDA zone 5a, about 162 days between hard freezes, across 8K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 5a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 2
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 11
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~162
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town 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 Rosebud's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Rosebud's 162-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Rosebud
Each reading below is measured for Rosebud itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredRosebud runs about 162 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
MeasuredRosebud 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 Rosebud is in
Rosebud sits in the Northwestern Great Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Rosebud's own centroid rather than borrowed from Todd County.
What Grows in Rosebud
Every plant below cleared Rosebud's own zone 5a and its 162-day season. Each card opens that plant's South Dakota profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Rosebud?
For most of the year, no — what changes is which crops still fit the days remaining. Cool-season crops can go in from around Apr 4; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 2 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 11 — 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 Rosebud
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Rosebud. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- ROSEBUD MINI MARTUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.4 mi
- BIA-ROAD SHOPUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.4 mi
- BIA LAW ENFORCEMENTUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.4 mi
- ALL STOP INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.5 mi
- 38N30W27DDDCNitrate · 1.9 mi
- 38N30W34AABANitrate · 1.9 mi
- ROSEBUD SOLID WASTEUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.9 mi
- 38N30W34AA2Nitrate · 2.0 mi
- ROSEBUD SGU BUILDING DEMOSuperfund · 2.0 mi
- BIA FACILITY MANAGEMENTUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.1 mi
- TODD CO SCHOOL DIST 66-1Underground Storage Tanks · 2.1 mi
- ROSEBUD PHS INDIAN HOSPITALBrownfields · 2.3 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Rosebud'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 Rosebud.
Total Sites
123
within ~10 miles of Rosebud
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
1 Superfund site (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Rosebud
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Rosebud
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Rosebud, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 92 sites within ~10 miles of Rosebud. Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
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 Rosebud
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 Rosebud average
Your land is one point inside Rosebud
Everything above resolves to Rosebud 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 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 Rosebud Average
Rosebud Average
- ●USDA Zones 5a, averaged across Rosebud
- ●One soil character for all of Rosebud
- ●Frost dates read at Rosebud's scale: May 2 to Oct 11
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Rosebud's 5a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Rosebud
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Rosebud, South Dakota — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Rosebud averages can't show:
We read public map data around Rosebud — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Rosebud average
How we know this about Rosebud
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 Rosebud’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 Rosebud
When does frost risk typically end in Rosebud?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Rosebud typically lands around May 2, 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 23.
When is the first frost in Rosebud?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Rosebud typically arrives around Oct 11, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 27, so the watching starts about Sep 11 — about 162 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Rosebud?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Rosebud sees about 162 frost-free days — roughly May 2 through Oct 11, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 23 to Sep 27, about 127 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Rosebud?
The federal record around Rosebud is a meaningful one — 123 documented sites, mostly Nitrate entries (92), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 1.4 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 Rosebud?
From about Sep 11 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 11 (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 11. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Rosebud's scale — its 5a band and its 162-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Rosebud'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 Rosebud’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Rosebud's own scale — its own ~162-day season between 28°F freezes, the 8,297 acres it covers and 123 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Rosebud's own USDA hardiness band, zones 5aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Rosebud's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 2 and Oct 11 and the ~162-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 123 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Rosebud, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 1.4 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Rosebud's boundary and the 8,297 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 5a and a ~162-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Rosebud's own centroid, the Northwestern Great PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Rosebud's 8,297 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Todd County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Todd 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 Todd County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Rosebud's 8,297 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Rosebud you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 8,297 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 1.4 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 Rosebud-wide figureread your own land →
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