Ashland, Wisconsin, 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.
On paper, cabbage, cranberry, lavender, and collard greens all suit these conditions — on the ground, soil, sun, and drainage make the final call.
Even in Ashland, 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 Ashland 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 Ashland — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Ashland — the short answer
Ashland, Wisconsin: USDA zone 5a, about 159 days between hard freezes, across 9K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 5a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 7
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 13
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~159
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- City area
- 9K 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 Ashland's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Ashland's 159-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Ashland
Each reading below is measured for Ashland itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredAshland runs about 159 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
MeasuredAshland 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 Ashland is in
Ashland sits in the Northern Lakes and Forests — EPA Level III, inside the wider Northern Forests. That is read at Ashland's own centroid rather than borrowed from Ashland County.
What Grows in Ashland
Every plant below cleared Ashland's own zone 5a and its 159-day season. Each card opens that plant's Wisconsin profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Ashland?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. Cool-season crops can go in from around Apr 9; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 7 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 13 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. The tail of the season still works: sixty-day crops into late summer, quick greens after, garlic last of all.
What's on the federal record near Ashland
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Ashland. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- NORTHLAND COLLEGEBrownfields · 500 ft
- VON HOLZEN PONTIAC BUICK GMC INCBrownfields · 700 ft
- Tomlinson Auto ServiceUnderground Storage Tanks · 1900 ft
- ONE HOUR DRY CLEANERSBrownfields · 2500 ft
- DEA DRUG LAB CLEAN UP-ASHLAND CNTY SHERIFFBrownfields · 0.6 mi
- Midland Services IncUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- QUEARM OIL COUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- BAYSIDE TIMBER CORPORATIONBrownfields · 0.6 mi
- Kwik Trip #163Underground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- CHEQUAMEGON CLINICBrownfields · 0.6 mi
- ASHLAND FORGE INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- EAGLE FORGE & MACHINEBrownfields · 0.7 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Ashland'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 Ashland.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Ashland
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Ashland
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Ashland, Superfund runs higher than the national average — 5 sites within ~10 miles of Ashland. It's not cause for alarm — it's worth knowing, and there's a sensible way to grow around it.
Superfund: Superfund sites represent the most severe contamination in the federal system.
Commission professional soil testing before any food production (test for heavy metals, VOCs, and SVOCs).
Check your specific parcel in Ashland
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 Ashland average
Your land is one point inside Ashland
Everything above resolves to Ashland as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 9K 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 Ashland Average
Ashland Average
- ●USDA Zones 5a, averaged across Ashland
- ●One soil character for all of Ashland
- ●Frost dates read at Ashland's scale: May 7 to Oct 13
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Ashland's 5a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Ashland
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Ashland, Wisconsin — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Ashland averages can't show:
We read public map data around Ashland — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Ashland average
How we know this about Ashland
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 Ashland’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 Ashland
When does frost risk typically end in Ashland?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Ashland typically lands around May 7, 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 28.
When is the first frost in Ashland?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Ashland typically arrives around Oct 13, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 29, so the watching starts about Sep 13 — about 159 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Ashland?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Ashland sees about 159 frost-free days — roughly May 7 through Oct 13, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 28 to Sep 29, about 124 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Ashland?
The federal record around Ashland is a meaningful one — 284 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (124), the nearest Brownfields 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 Ashland?
From about Sep 13 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 13 (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 13. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Ashland's scale — its 5a band and its 159-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Ashland'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 Ashland’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Ashland's own scale — its own ~159-day season between 28°F freezes, the 8,554 acres it covers and 284 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Ashland's own USDA hardiness band, zones 5aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Ashland's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 7 and Oct 13 and the ~159-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 284 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Ashland, the closest Brownfields record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Ashland's boundary and the 8,554 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 5a and a ~159-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Ashland'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 Ashland's 8,554 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Ashland County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Ashland 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 Ashland County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Ashland's 8,554 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Ashland you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 8,554 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Brownfields 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 Ashland-wide figureread your own land →
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