Scotland, 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.
A short list that earns its place here — cabbage, cranberry, lavender, and collard greens — with any one site's soil, sun, and drainage making the final cut.
Even in Scotland, 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 Scotland 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 Scotland — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Scotland — the short answer
Scotland, South Dakota: USDA zone 5a, about 180 days between hard freezes, across 573 acres of city.
- 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 17
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~180
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- City area
- 573 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 Scotland's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Scotland's 180-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Scotland
Each reading below is measured for Scotland itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredScotland 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
MeasuredScotland 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 Scotland is in
Scotland sits in the Northern Glaciated Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Scotland's own centroid rather than borrowed from Bon Homme County.
What Grows in Scotland
Every plant below cleared Scotland'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 Scotland?
Too late for some crops, right on time for others — a growing season is a sequence, not a deadline. 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 17 — 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 Scotland
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Scotland. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- 96N58W 8ADCNitrate · 350 ft
- BON HOMME COUNTY HIGHWAY SHOPUnderground Storage Tanks · 600 ft
- MAIN STOPUnderground Storage Tanks · 650 ft
- 96N58W 8DBANitrate · 700 ft
- SCOTLAND OIL COUnderground Storage Tanks · 750 ft
- 96N58W 8ADAC2Nitrate · 750 ft
- SCOTTIE STOPUnderground Storage Tanks · 900 ft
- COOP FARMERS ASSNUnderground Storage Tanks · 1100 ft
- POET RESEARCH CENTERBrownfields · 1800 ft
- POET RESEARCH CENTERToxics Release Inventory · 1800 ft
- B-J TRANSIT INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- 96N58W 6BCACNitrate · 2.0 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Scotland'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 Scotland.
Total Sites
111
within ~10 miles of Scotland
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
1 Superfund site (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Scotland
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Scotland
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Scotland, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 86 sites within ~10 miles of Scotland. 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 Scotland
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 Scotland average
Your land is one point inside Scotland
Everything above resolves to Scotland as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 573 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 Scotland Average
Scotland Average
- ●USDA Zones 5a, averaged across Scotland
- ●One soil character for all of Scotland
- ●Frost dates read at Scotland's scale: Apr 20 to Oct 17
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Scotland's 5a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Scotland
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Scotland, South Dakota — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Scotland averages can't show:
We read public map data around Scotland — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Scotland average
How we know this about Scotland
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 Scotland’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 Scotland
When does frost risk typically end in Scotland?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Scotland 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 Scotland?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Scotland typically arrives around Oct 17, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 3, so the watching starts about Sep 17 — about 180 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Scotland?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Scotland sees about 180 frost-free days — roughly Apr 20 through Oct 17, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 11 to Oct 3, about 145 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Scotland?
The federal record around Scotland is a meaningful one — 111 documented sites, mostly Nitrate entries (86), the nearest Nitrate 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 Scotland?
From about Sep 17 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 17 (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 17. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Scotland's scale — its 5a band and its 180-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Scotland'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 Scotland’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Scotland's own scale — its own ~180-day season between 28°F freezes, the 573 acres it covers and 111 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Scotland's own USDA hardiness band, zones 5aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Scotland's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 20 and Oct 17 and the ~180-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 111 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Scotland, the closest Nitrate record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Scotland's boundary and the 573 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 Scotland's own centroid, the Northern Glaciated PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Scotland's 573 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Bon Homme County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Bon Homme 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 Bon Homme County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Scotland's 573 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Scotland you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 573 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Nitrate 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 Scotland-wide figureread your own land →