Argonne, Wisconsin, sits in USDA hardiness zone 4b — 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 cabbage, cranberry, cilantro, and collard greens; what your own ground favors still comes down to its soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Argonne, 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 Argonne 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 Argonne — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Argonne — the short answer
Argonne, Wisconsin: USDA zone 4b, about 146 days between hard freezes, across 356 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 4b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 11
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 4
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~146
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 356 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 4b is Argonne's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Argonne's 146-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Argonne
Each reading below is measured for Argonne itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredArgonne runs about 146 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
MeasuredArgonne sits in USDA hardiness zone 4b.
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 Argonne is in
Argonne sits in the Northern Lakes and Forests — EPA Level III, inside the wider Northern Forests. That is read at Argonne's own centroid rather than borrowed from Forest County.
What Grows in Argonne
Every plant below cleared Argonne's own zone 4b and its 146-day season. Each card opens that plant's Wisconsin profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Argonne?
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 Apr 13; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 11 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 4 — 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 Argonne
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Argonne. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- PINE LAKE PUB & CAFEUnderground Storage Tanks · 300 ft
- WILLIAM A VOTISUnderground Storage Tanks · 300 ft
- TOWN OF HILESUnderground Storage Tanks · 300 ft
- RONALD BROOKSUnderground Storage Tanks · 300 ft
- Town Of ArgonneUnderground Storage Tanks · 550 ft
- FR-37/13E/28-0299Nitrate · 700 ft
- FOREST COUNTY HWY DEPTUnderground Storage Tanks · 1000 ft
- M & R AUTO SERVICE STATION LLCUnderground Storage Tanks · 1400 ft
- ARGONNE LUMBER & SUPPLYUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- FR-37/13E/21-0297Nitrate · 0.8 mi
- FORMERLY KATHYS PINE LAKE STOREUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- BALDWIN RACING INCBrownfields · 1.8 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Argonne'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 Argonne.
Total Sites
131
within ~10 miles of Argonne
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
2 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Argonne
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Argonne
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Argonne, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 54 sites within ~10 miles of Argonne. 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.
Test well water for nitrate if you rely on a private well for irrigation (EPA standard: 10 mg/L).
Check your specific parcel in Argonne
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 Argonne average
Your land is one point inside Argonne
Everything above resolves to Argonne as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 356 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 Argonne Average
Argonne Average
- ●USDA Zones 4b, averaged across Argonne
- ●One soil character for all of Argonne
- ●Frost dates read at Argonne's scale: May 11 to Oct 4
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Argonne's 4b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Argonne
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Argonne, Wisconsin — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Argonne averages can't show:
We read public map data around Argonne — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Argonne average
How we know this about Argonne
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 Argonne’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 Argonne
When does frost risk typically end in Argonne?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Argonne typically lands around May 11, 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 1.
When is the first frost in Argonne?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Argonne typically arrives around Oct 4, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 20, so the watching starts about Sep 4 — about 146 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Argonne?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Argonne sees about 146 frost-free days — roughly May 11 through Oct 4, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Jun 1 to Sep 20, about 111 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Argonne?
The federal record around Argonne is a meaningful one — 131 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (64), 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 gardeners stretch the season in Argonne?
With about 146 frost-free days between hard freezes, Argonne 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 174 to 202 days — and cold frames or low tunnels buy more. Starting transplants indoors ahead of the May 11 hard-freeze normal stretches the season without touching the calendar.
Everything above is measured at Argonne's scale — its 4b band and its 146-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Argonne'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 Argonne’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Argonne's own scale — its own ~146-day season between 28°F freezes, the 356 acres it covers and 131 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Argonne's own USDA hardiness band, zones 4bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Argonne's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 11 and Oct 4 and the ~146-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 131 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Argonne, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Argonne's boundary and the 356 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 4b and a ~146-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Argonne'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 Argonne's 356 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Forest County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Forest County
- The growing challenges every Wisconsin grower plans around — written at state scale, so they stay on the state guidefrom Wisconsin
- Butterfly and beetle records, and the farmland pesticide estimate — all published county-widefrom Forest County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Argonne's 356 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Argonne you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 356 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 Argonne-wide figureread your own land →
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