What Grows in Danbury, Wisconsin

USDA Zones 4a · 808 acres

Danbury, Wisconsin, sits in USDA hardiness zone 4a — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.

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.

Score your parcel · free

Even in Danbury, 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 Danbury 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 Danbury — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.

No card required · your full report in seconds

Danbury — the short answer

Danbury, Wisconsin: USDA zone 4a, about 157 days between hard freezes, across 808 acres of town.

USDA zone
4a
USDA PHZM 2023
Last hard freeze (28°F)
May 3
NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
First hard freeze (28°F)
Oct 7
NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
Days between freezes
~157
NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
Town area
808 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

4a4a
3a (Cold)13b (Hot)

Zone 4a is Danbury's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Danbury's 157-day season, see what your own ground reads.

Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.

What this means for growing in Danbury

Each reading below is measured for Danbury itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.

Season length

Measured

Danbury runs about 157 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

Measured

Danbury 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 Danbury is in

Danbury sits in the Northern Lakes and Forests — EPA Level III, inside the wider Northern Forests. That is read at Danbury's own centroid rather than borrowed from Burnett County.

What that means for soil

What Grows in Danbury

Every plant below cleared Danbury's own zone 4a and its 157-day season. Each card opens that plant's Wisconsin profile. How we score.

cabbage, photograph
Growing cabbage in WisconsinZones 2–11Danbury's 4a — 2 zones of cold margin.
cranberry, photograph
Wisconsin cranberry guideZones 2–7Danbury's 4a — 2 zones of cold margin.
Turkish rocket, photograph
Turkish rocket in WisconsinDanbury's 157 days clear the ~90 it needs.
collard greens, photograph
Collard greens: Wisconsin growing notesZones 2–11Danbury's 4a — 2 zones of cold margin.
hazelnut, photograph
Growing hazelnut in WisconsinZones 4–9Danbury's 4a is its exact cold limit.
cilantro, photograph
Wisconsin cilantro guideZones 2–11Danbury's 157 days clear the ~35 it needs.
garlic, photograph
Garlic in WisconsinZones 2–10Danbury's 4a — 2 zones of cold margin.
blueberry, photograph
Blueberry: Wisconsin growing notesZones 3–8Danbury's 4a — 1 zone of cold margin.
epazote, photograph
Growing epazote in WisconsinDanbury's 157 days clear the ~60 it needs.
kale, photograph
Wisconsin kale guideZones 2–11Danbury's 4a — 2 zones of cold margin.
apple, photograph
Apple in WisconsinZones 3–8Danbury's 4a — 1 zone of cold margin.
lentil, photograph
Lentil: Wisconsin growing notesZones 2–11Danbury's 157 days clear the ~70 it needs.
okra, photograph
Growing okra in WisconsinZones 2–12Danbury's 157 days clear the ~50 it needs.
potato, photograph
Wisconsin potato guideZones 2–11Danbury's 4a — 2 zones of cold margin.
rhubarb, photograph
Rhubarb in WisconsinZones 2–8Danbury's 157 days clear the ~60 it needs.
hosta, photograph
Hosta: Wisconsin growing notesZones 3–8Danbury's 4a — 1 zone of cold margin.
sunflower, photograph
Growing sunflower in WisconsinZones 2–11Danbury's 157 days clear the ~70 it needs.
azalea, photograph
Wisconsin azalea guideZones 4–8Danbury's 4a is its exact cold limit.
hops, photograph
Hops in WisconsinZones 3–8Danbury's 4a — 1 zone of cold margin.
iris, photograph
Iris: Wisconsin growing notesZones 3–10Danbury's 4a — 1 zone of cold margin.
French marigold, photograph
Growing french marigold in WisconsinDanbury's 157 days clear the ~50 it needs.
lilac, photograph
Wisconsin lilac guideZones 4–10Danbury's 4a is its exact cold limit.
riverbank grape, photograph
Riverbank grape in WisconsinZones 2–8Danbury's 4a — 2 zones of cold margin.
Siberian squill, photograph
Siberian squill: Wisconsin growing notesZones 2–8Danbury's 4a — 2 zones of cold margin.
blue spruce, photograph
Growing blue spruce in WisconsinZones 2–8Danbury's 4a — 2 zones of cold margin.
field pea, photograph
Wisconsin field pea guideZones 2–10Danbury's 157 days clear the ~60 it needs.
Kentucky bluegrass, botanical illustration
Kentucky bluegrass in WisconsinZones 2–7Danbury's 4a — 2 zones of cold margin.
American elm, photograph
American elm: Wisconsin growing notesZones 3–9Danbury's 4a — 1 zone of cold margin.
Growing triticale in WisconsinDanbury's 157 days clear the ~90 it needs.
bunchberry, photograph
Wisconsin bunchberry guideZones 2–6Danbury's 4a — 2 zones of cold margin.

Is it too late to plant in Danbury?

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 5; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 3 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 7 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. Late in the year the fall bench takes over — quick greens, radishes, and garlic that repays you next summer.

What's on the federal record near Danbury

Closest first, within ~10 miles of Danbury. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.

  1. North End ServiceUnderground Storage Tanks · 1200 ft
  2. LLOYD JENSENUnderground Storage Tanks · 1200 ft
  3. DANBURY HARDWARE HANKBrownfields · 2000 ft
  4. DOLLAR GENERAL #19533Brownfields · 0.5 mi
  5. WAYNES IGA #266Underground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
  6. BT-41/16W/28-0078Nitrate · 0.6 mi
  7. Log CabinUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
  8. CHIPPEWA CORNERS CAFEUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
  9. BT-41/16W/27-0106Nitrate · 0.7 mi
  10. BT-41/16W/27-0127Nitrate · 0.9 mi
  11. BT-41/16W/27-0731Nitrate · 0.9 mi
  12. BT-41/16W/22-0126Nitrate · 1.1 mi

6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map

Measured from Danbury'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 Danbury.

Total Sites

85

within ~10 miles of Danbury

Risk Level

Moderate

Highest-severity

1 Toxics Release Inventory facility

Severity Distribution

within ~10 miles of Danbury

High0Moderate35Low50

Highest-Severity Sites

Bt-39/16W/08-0006
Nitrate Monitoring · Well
Bt-39/16W/08-0006
Nitrate Monitoring · Well
Bt-41/16W/22-0126
Nitrate Monitoring · Well
Bt-41/16W/22-0126
Nitrate Monitoring · Well
Bt-41/16W/27-0106
Nitrate Monitoring · Well

A note from Gnorman

What an experienced grower watches for around here

In and around Danbury, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 26 sites within ~10 miles of Danbury. That's not a problem with your land — it's information about 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).

Free Report

Check your specific parcel in Danbury

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 Danbury average

Your land is one point inside Danbury

Everything above resolves to Danbury as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 808 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 Danbury Average

Danbury Average

  • USDA Zones 4a, averaged across Danbury
  • One soil character for all of Danbury
  • Frost dates read at Danbury's scale: May 3 to Oct 7

YOUR Parcel

  • Your exact zone, not Danbury's 4a
  • Your SSURGO soil type & pH
  • Your sun exposure, cast in 3D

See MY Growing Report

Free Report

Read your specific parcel in Danbury

Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Danbury, Wisconsin — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.

Three things about your lot that Danbury averages can't show:

Your soil pHYour frost-free days — Danbury averages 157Your sun & shade

We read public map data around Danbury — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.

25+ data sources read at your address, not the Danbury average

How we know this about Danbury

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 Danbury’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 Danbury

When does frost risk typically end in Danbury?

The last hard freeze (28°F) in Danbury typically lands around May 3, 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 24.

When is the first frost in Danbury?

The first hard freeze (28°F) in Danbury typically arrives around Oct 7, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 23, so the watching starts about Sep 7 — about 157 days after the spring freeze cleared.

How long is the growing season in Danbury?

Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Danbury sees about 157 frost-free days — roughly May 3 through Oct 7, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 24 to Sep 23, about 122 days.

Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Danbury?

The federal record around Danbury shows 85 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (36), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 miles 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 Danbury?

From about Sep 7 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 7 (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 7. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.

Everything above is measured at Danbury's scale — its 4a band and its 157-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Danbury'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 Danbury’s own scale

6 of the readings below were taken at Danbury's own scale — its own ~157-day season between 28°F freezes, the 808 acres it covers and 85 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.

Measured here

  • Danbury's own USDA hardiness band, zones 4aUSDA PHZM 2023
  • Danbury's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 3 and Oct 7 and the ~157-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
  • 85 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Danbury, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
  • Danbury's boundary and the 808 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
  • Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 4a and a ~157-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
  • The ecoregion at Danbury'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 Danbury's 808 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Burnett County
  • Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Burnett 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 Burnett County

What this page can’t tell you

  • The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Danbury's 808 acreswhy one lot differs from the next
  • Which side of Danbury you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 808 acresreading your own microclimate
  • How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 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 Danbury-wide figureread your own land
The next step finer is your own address