Bowler, Wisconsin, sits in USDA hardiness zone 4b — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
These conditions suit cabbage, cranberry, turkish rocket, and collard greens — a starting list any specific site will trim or extend with its own soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Bowler, 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 Bowler 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 Bowler — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Bowler — the short answer
Bowler, Wisconsin: USDA zone 4b, about 158 days between hard freezes, across 665 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 4b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 4
- 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
- ~158
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 665 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 Bowler's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Bowler's 158-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Bowler
Each reading below is measured for Bowler itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredBowler runs about 158 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
MeasuredBowler 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 Bowler is in
Bowler sits in the North Central Hardwood Forests — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Bowler's own centroid rather than borrowed from Shawano County.
What Grows in Bowler
Every plant below cleared Bowler's own zone 4b and its 158-day season. Each card opens that plant's Wisconsin profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Bowler?
Rarely: the season closes in stages, not all at once, and each stage has its crops. Cool-season crops can go in from around Apr 6; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 4 (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. 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 Bowler
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Bowler. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- Andersons Auto Parts & ServUnderground Storage Tanks · 100 ft
- Andersons Parts & ServicesUnderground Storage Tanks · 150 ft
- MARYS PLACEUnderground Storage Tanks · 150 ft
- VILLAGE OF BOWLERUnderground Storage Tanks · 400 ft
- DEPT OF NATURAL RESOURCESUnderground Storage Tanks · 650 ft
- W L WAASUnderground Storage Tanks · 650 ft
- G EUGENE DURANCEAUUnderground Storage Tanks · 650 ft
- CORNER BARUnderground Storage Tanks · 650 ft
- GROSSKOPF BARUnderground Storage Tanks · 650 ft
- GROSSKOPFSUnderground Storage Tanks · 650 ft
- Leroy OnestiUnderground Storage Tanks · 650 ft
- GROSSKOPF AUTO SALESUnderground Storage Tanks · 650 ft
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Bowler'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 Bowler.
Total Sites
195
within ~10 miles of Bowler
Risk Level
Moderate
Highest-severity
1 Toxics Release Inventory facility
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Bowler
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Bowler
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Bowler, Underground Storage Tanks runs higher than the national average — 122 sites within ~10 miles of Bowler. It's not cause for alarm — it's worth knowing, and there's a sensible way to grow around 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 Bowler
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 Bowler average
Your land is one point inside Bowler
Everything above resolves to Bowler as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 665 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 Bowler Average
Bowler Average
- ●USDA Zones 4b, averaged across Bowler
- ●One soil character for all of Bowler
- ●Frost dates read at Bowler's scale: May 4 to Oct 9
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Bowler's 4b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Bowler
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Bowler, Wisconsin — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Bowler averages can't show:
We read public map data around Bowler — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Bowler average
How we know this about Bowler
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 Bowler’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 Bowler
When does frost risk typically end in Bowler?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Bowler typically lands around May 4, 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 25.
When is the first frost in Bowler?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Bowler 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 158 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Bowler?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Bowler sees about 158 frost-free days — roughly May 4 through Oct 9, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 25 to Sep 25, about 123 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Bowler?
The federal record around Bowler shows 195 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (122), 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 Bowler?
From about Sep 9 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 9 (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 9. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Bowler's scale — its 4b band and its 158-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Bowler'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 Bowler’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Bowler's own scale — its own ~158-day season between 28°F freezes, the 665 acres it covers and 195 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Bowler's own USDA hardiness band, zones 4bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Bowler's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 4 and Oct 9 and the ~158-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 195 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Bowler, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Bowler's boundary and the 665 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 4b and a ~158-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Bowler's own centroid, the North Central Hardwood ForestsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Bowler's 665 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Shawano County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Shawano 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 Shawano County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Bowler's 665 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Bowler you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 665 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 Bowler-wide figureread your own land →
More in Wisconsin
Wider growing context
What grows across WisconsinBowler sits outside our named growing regions, so Wisconsin as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides