Dane, Wisconsin, sits in USDA hardiness zone 5a — a band that supports both cool-season staples and warm-season crops chosen to fit the local frost window.
A short list that earns its place here — cabbage, cranberry, lavender, and collard greens — with any one site's soil, sun, and drainage making the final cut.
Even in Dane, 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 Dane 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 Dane — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Dane — the short answer
Dane, Wisconsin: USDA zone 5a, about 183 days between hard freezes, across 758 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 5a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 17
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 17
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~183
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 758 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 Dane's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Dane's 183-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Dane
Each reading below is measured for Dane itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredDane runs about 183 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
MeasuredDane 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 Dane is in
Dane sits in the Southeastern Wisconsin Till Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Dane's own centroid rather than borrowed from Dane County.
What Grows in Dane
Every plant below cleared Dane's own zone 5a and its 183-day season. Each card opens that plant's Wisconsin profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Dane?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 20; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 17 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 17 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. Even past midsummer there is room for a true fall garden here, and garlic planted near the close carries the momentum into next year.
What's on the federal record near Dane
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Dane. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- ALBERT DEANSUnderground Storage Tanks · 1300 ft
- THE VOLLRATH COMPANY LLC - DANEToxics Release Inventory · 1400 ft
- THE VOLLRATH COMPANY LLC - DANEBrownfields · 1400 ft
- TERRA INTERNATIONAL INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 1500 ft
- DN-09/08E/14-0086Nitrate · 1500 ft
- RAEMISCH IMPLEMENT COUnderground Storage Tanks · 1600 ft
- RICHARD BANNENUnderground Storage Tanks · 1600 ft
- TOWN OF DUNNUnderground Storage Tanks · 1600 ft
- VILLAGE OF DANEUnderground Storage Tanks · 1700 ft
- Dane Kwik StopUnderground Storage Tanks · 1700 ft
- DANE MFG CO INCBrownfields · 1700 ft
- MILLER BUSESUnderground Storage Tanks · 1700 ft
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Dane'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 Dane.
Total Sites
476
within ~10 miles of Dane
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
1 Superfund site (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Dane
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Dane
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Dane, CAFO runs higher than the national average — 10 sites within ~10 miles of Dane. It's not cause for alarm — it's worth knowing, and there's a sensible way to grow around it.
CAFO: CAFOs pose a different contamination profile than chemical sources.
Wash all produce consumed raw thoroughly, especially leafy greens grown near CAFOs.
Check your specific parcel in Dane
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 Dane average
Your land is one point inside Dane
Everything above resolves to Dane as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 758 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 Dane Average
Dane Average
- ●USDA Zones 5a, averaged across Dane
- ●One soil character for all of Dane
- ●Frost dates read at Dane's scale: Apr 17 to Oct 17
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Dane's 5a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Dane
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Dane, Wisconsin — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Dane averages can't show:
We read public map data around Dane — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Dane average
How we know this about Dane
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 Dane’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 Dane
When does frost risk typically end in Dane?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Dane typically lands around Apr 17, 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 8.
When is the first frost in Dane?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Dane typically arrives around Oct 17, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 3, so the watching starts about Sep 17 — about 183 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Dane?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Dane sees about 183 frost-free days — roughly Apr 17 through Oct 17, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 8 to Oct 3, about 148 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Dane?
The federal record around Dane is a meaningful one — 476 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (260), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.3 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 I protect my plants from frost in Dane?
From about Sep 17 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 17 (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 17. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Dane's scale — its 5a band and its 183-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Dane'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 Dane’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Dane's own scale — its own ~183-day season between 28°F freezes, the 758 acres it covers and 476 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Dane's own USDA hardiness band, zones 5aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Dane's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 17 and Oct 17 and the ~183-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 476 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Dane, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.3 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Dane's boundary and the 758 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 5a and a ~183-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Dane's own centroid, the Southeastern Wisconsin Till PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Dane's 758 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Dane County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Dane 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 Dane County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Dane's 758 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Dane you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 758 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.3 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 Dane-wide figureread your own land →
More in Wisconsin
Wider growing context
What grows across WisconsinDane sits outside our named growing regions, so Wisconsin as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides