Wausau, Florida, sits in USDA hardiness zone 9a — enough range to grow cool-season vegetables, hardy fruit, and warm-season crops that mature before the first hard frost.
Reliable performers under these conditions include artichoke, fig, california poppy, and cabbage; what your own ground favors still comes down to its soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Wausau, 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 Wausau 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 Wausau — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Wausau — the short answer
Wausau, Florida: USDA zone 9a, about 288 days between hard freezes, across 737 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 9a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Feb 15
- Washington County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 30
- Washington County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~288
- Washington County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town area
- 737 acres
- US Census TIGER/Line 2025
Every figure names the dataset it came from. No 30-year normal resolves at this town’s own centroid, so the hard-freeze dates are Washington County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 9a is Wausau's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Wausau's 288-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Wausau
Each reading below is measured for Wausau itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsWausau runs about 288 days between hard freezes (read from Washington County, the closest normal to Wausau) — close to year-round growing.
Frost is rarely the limit here; winter plantings are as real as summer ones, and the harder question is which crops shrug off the summer heat.
Grow cool-season crops through the mild winter, and choose heat-tolerant varieties for the summer beds.
NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Winter hardiness
MeasuredWausau sits in USDA hardiness zone 9a.
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 Wausau is in
Wausau sits in the Southeastern Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Wausau's own centroid rather than borrowed from Washington County.
What Grows in Wausau
Every plant below cleared Wausau's own zone 9a and its 288-day season. Each card opens that plant's Florida profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Wausau?
Rarely: the season closes in stages, not all at once, and each stage has its crops. Cool-season crops can go in from around Jan 18; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Feb 15 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 30 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. With almost year-round growing weather, timing is about heat and rainfall more than frost — some bench is always in play.
What's on the federal record near Wausau
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Wausau. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- HENTZ FARMSUnderground Storage Tanks · 100 ft
- PANHANDLE AUTO CENTERBrownfields · 150 ft
- CAROLS FAMILY HAIR CENTERUnderground Storage Tanks · 350 ft
- WAUSAU ASSEMBLY OF GODUnderground Storage Tanks · 750 ft
- TOM THUMB FOOD STORE #40Underground Storage Tanks · 1100 ft
- BELLSOUTH #31583Underground Storage Tanks · 1200 ft
- SMITHS GROCERYUnderground Storage Tanks · 2100 ft
- COUNTRY FOLKS RESTAURANTUnderground Storage Tanks · 2200 ft
- HAPPY STOREUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- KUT N KURL BEAUTY SHOPUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- CARTER CATTLE FARMUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.0 mi
- 037-535-313Nitrate · 1.0 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Wausau'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 Wausau.
Total Sites
123
within ~10 miles of Wausau
Risk Level
Moderate
Highest-severity
1 Toxics Release Inventory facility
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Wausau
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Wausau
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Wausau, Underground Storage Tanks runs higher than the national average — 85 sites within ~10 miles of Wausau. That's not a problem with your land — it's information about it.
Underground Storage Tanks: Underground storage tanks are the single most common source of soil contamination near homes and gardens.
Use raised beds with imported soil — this eliminates the primary soil-contact pathway.
Check your specific parcel in Wausau
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 Wausau average
Your land is one point inside Wausau
Everything above resolves to Wausau as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 737 acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Washington County’s record because no 30-year normal resolves at this town’s own centroid. 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 Wausau Average
Wausau Average
- ●USDA Zones 9a, averaged across Wausau
- ●One soil character for all of Wausau
- ●Frost dates read at Wausau's scale: Feb 15 to Nov 30
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Wausau's 9a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Wausau
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Wausau, Florida — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Wausau averages can't show:
We read public map data around Wausau — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Wausau average
How we know this about Wausau
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 Washington County’s record, because none resolves here; 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 Wausau
When does frost risk typically end in Wausau?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Wausau typically lands around Feb 15, 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 Mar 8.
When is the first frost in Wausau?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Wausau typically arrives around Nov 30, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Nov 16, so the watching starts about Oct 31 — about 288 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Wausau?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Wausau sees about 288 frost-free days — roughly Feb 15 through Nov 30, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Mar 8 to Nov 16, about 253 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Wausau?
The federal record around Wausau shows 123 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (85), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out — a typical footprint for a growing area, and proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard. It's worth seeing which recorded sites sit closest to where you grow, and testing the soil before new food beds near any of them.
How do I protect my plants from frost in Wausau?
From about Oct 31 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 Nov 30 (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 Nov 30. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Wausau's scale — its 9a band and its 288-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Wausau'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 Wausau’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at Wausau's own scale — the 737 acres it covers and 123 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Wausau's own USDA hardiness band, zones 9aUSDA PHZM 2023
- 123 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Wausau, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Wausau's boundary and the 737 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 9a and a ~288-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Wausau's own centroid, the Southeastern PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — Wausau has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Washington County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Wausau's 737 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Washington County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Washington County
- The growing challenges every Florida grower plans around — written at state scale, so they stay on the state guidefrom Florida
- Butterfly and beetle records, and the farmland pesticide estimate — all published county-widefrom Washington County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Wausau's 737 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Wausau you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 737 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 Wausau-wide figureread your own land →
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