Wrenshall, Minnesota, sits in USDA hardiness zone 4a — enough range to grow cool-season vegetables, hardy fruit, and warm-season crops that mature before the first hard frost.
Crops well matched to these conditions include cabbage, cranberry, cilantro, and collard greens — though what thrives on any one site still turns on its specific soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Wrenshall, 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 Wrenshall 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 Wrenshall — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Wrenshall — the short answer
Wrenshall, Minnesota: USDA zone 4a, about 149 days between hard freezes, across 954 acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 4a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 13
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 9
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~149
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- City area
- 954 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 4a is Wrenshall's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Wrenshall's 149-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Wrenshall
Each reading below is measured for Wrenshall itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredWrenshall runs about 149 days between hard freezes — a short growing season.
Long-maturing crops like melons, sweet potatoes, and winter squash can run out of runway before the first hard freeze, ripening late or not at all.
Lead with fast-maturing varieties, and stretch the season on both ends with cold frames, low tunnels, or a greenhouse.
NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Winter hardiness
MeasuredWrenshall sits in USDA hardiness zone 4a.
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 Wrenshall is in
Wrenshall sits in the Northern Lakes and Forests — EPA Level III, inside the wider Northern Forests. That is read at Wrenshall's own centroid rather than borrowed from Carlton County.
What Grows in Wrenshall
Every plant below cleared Wrenshall's own zone 4a and its 149-day season. Each card opens that plant's Minnesota profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Wrenshall?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. Cool-season crops can go in from around Apr 15; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 13 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 9 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. Even here the calendar’s edges hold value: thirty-day greens late in the window, then garlic and a rested bed for spring.
What's on the federal record near Wrenshall
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Wrenshall. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- US POST OFFICE - WRENSHALLBrownfields · 750 ft
- WRENSHALL CITY GARAGEBrownfields · 750 ft
- Wrenshall City GarageUnderground Storage Tanks · 750 ft
- ISD 100 WRENSHALL SCHOOL BUSBrownfields · 1300 ft
- ISD 100 WRENSHALL SCHOOLBrownfields · 1800 ft
- ISD 100 Wrenshall SchoolUnderground Storage Tanks · 1900 ft
- Wrenshall General StoreUnderground Storage Tanks · 2600 ft
- MAGELLAN PIPELINE CO LP - WRENSHALL TERMINALBrownfields · 0.6 mi
- DEL ZOTTO PRODUCTSBrownfields · 0.6 mi
- MOBIL OIL CORPBrownfields · 0.8 mi
- NORTHERN NATURAL GAS CO - WRENSHALL LNG PLANTBrownfields · 1.1 mi
- Northern Natural Gas CoUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.1 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Wrenshall'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 Wrenshall.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Wrenshall
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Wrenshall
Highest-Severity Sites
Know Before You Grow
- •Near a brownfield, raised beds of imported soil give your food clean ground.
- •Underground tanks leak petroleum as they age — near a former filling station, test the soil.
- •On a private well, test for nitrates: above 10 mg/L the water needs treatment before irrigating.
Check your specific parcel in Wrenshall
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 Wrenshall average
Your land is one point inside Wrenshall
Everything above resolves to Wrenshall as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 954 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 Wrenshall Average
Wrenshall Average
- ●USDA Zones 4a, averaged across Wrenshall
- ●One soil character for all of Wrenshall
- ●Frost dates read at Wrenshall's scale: May 13 to Oct 9
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Wrenshall's 4a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Wrenshall
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Wrenshall, Minnesota — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Wrenshall averages can't show:
We read public map data around Wrenshall — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Wrenshall average
How we know this about Wrenshall
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 Wrenshall’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 Wrenshall
When does frost risk typically end in Wrenshall?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Wrenshall typically lands around May 13, 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 Jun 3.
When is the first frost in Wrenshall?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Wrenshall typically arrives around Oct 9, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 25, so the watching starts about Sep 9 — about 149 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Wrenshall?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Wrenshall sees about 149 frost-free days — roughly May 13 through Oct 9, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Jun 3 to Sep 25, about 114 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Wrenshall?
The federal record around Wrenshall is a meaningful one — 367 documented sites, mostly Brownfields entries (164), the nearest Brownfields record about 0.1 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 gardeners stretch the season in Wrenshall?
With about 149 frost-free days between hard freezes, Wrenshall rewards the classic extension moves: floating row cover buys roughly two to four extra weeks at each shoulder — on this season that is a working window nearer 177 to 205 days — and cold frames or low tunnels buy more. Starting transplants indoors ahead of the May 13 hard-freeze normal stretches the season without touching the calendar.
Everything above is measured at Wrenshall's scale — its 4a band and its 149-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Wrenshall'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 Wrenshall’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Wrenshall's own scale — its own ~149-day season between 28°F freezes, the 954 acres it covers and 367 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Wrenshall's own USDA hardiness band, zones 4aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Wrenshall's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 13 and Oct 9 and the ~149-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 367 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Wrenshall, the closest Brownfields record about 0.1 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Wrenshall's boundary and the 954 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 4a and a ~149-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Wrenshall's own centroid, the Northern Lakes and ForestsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Wrenshall's 954 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Carlton County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Carlton County
- The growing challenges every Minnesota grower plans around — written at state scale, so they stay on the state guidefrom Minnesota
- Butterfly and beetle records, and the farmland pesticide estimate — all published county-widefrom Carlton County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Wrenshall's 954 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Wrenshall you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 954 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Brownfields record about 0.1 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 Wrenshall-wide figureread your own land →
More in Minnesota
Wider growing context
What grows across MinnesotaWrenshall sits outside our named growing regions, so Minnesota as a whole is its closest context here.