Eagle River, Wisconsin, sits in USDA hardiness zone 4b — room for a real mix of vegetables, fruit, and perennials matched to the local frost calendar.
Crops well matched to these conditions include cabbage, cranberry, cilantro, and collard greens — though what thrives on any one site still turns on its specific soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Eagle River, 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 Eagle River 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 Eagle River — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Eagle River — the short answer
Eagle River, Wisconsin: USDA zone 4b, about 148 days between hard freezes, across 2K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 4b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 12
- 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
- ~148
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- City area
- 2K 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 Eagle River's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Eagle River's 148-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Eagle River
Each reading below is measured for Eagle River itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredEagle River runs about 148 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
MeasuredEagle River 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 Eagle River is in
Eagle River sits in the Northern Lakes and Forests — EPA Level III, inside the wider Northern Forests. That is read at Eagle River's own centroid rather than borrowed from Vilas County.
What Grows in Eagle River
Every plant below cleared Eagle River's own zone 4b and its 148-day season. Each card opens that plant's Wisconsin profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Eagle River?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. Cool-season crops can go in from around Apr 14; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 12 (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. In a season this compact, fast finishers and cold-hardy greens do the late work, and garlic tucked in before the freeze repays you next summer.
What's on the federal record near Eagle River
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Eagle River. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- Miller Beer Of The NorthwoodsUnderground Storage Tanks · 400 ft
- TRACTOR SUPPLY COMPANY #2166Brownfields · 600 ft
- ASCENSION EAGLE RIVER HOSPITALBrownfields · 1300 ft
- Holiday Station Store #257Underground Storage Tanks · 1400 ft
- HOLIDAY STATIONSTORE #257Brownfields · 1400 ft
- Eagle River Memorial HospitalUnderground Storage Tanks · 1500 ft
- BARRYS BODY SHOPBrownfields · 1800 ft
- Eagle River AirportUnderground Storage Tanks · 2400 ft
- RANDY WAIKERUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- Eagle River Marine d/b/a Your Boat ClubUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- RAY LORCH CHEVROLET OLDS BUICK INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- Frederick V KauzlaricUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Eagle River'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 Eagle River.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Eagle River
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Eagle River
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Eagle River, Underground Storage Tanks runs higher than the national average — 176 sites within ~10 miles of Eagle River. That's not a problem with your land — it's information about 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 Eagle River
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 Eagle River average
Your land is one point inside Eagle River
Everything above resolves to Eagle River as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 2K 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 Eagle River Average
Eagle River Average
- ●USDA Zones 4b, averaged across Eagle River
- ●One soil character for all of Eagle River
- ●Frost dates read at Eagle River's scale: May 12 to Oct 7
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Eagle River's 4b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Eagle River
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Eagle River, Wisconsin — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Eagle River averages can't show:
We read public map data around Eagle River — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Eagle River average
How we know this about Eagle River
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 Eagle River’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 Eagle River
When does frost risk typically end in Eagle River?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Eagle River typically lands around May 12, 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 2.
When is the first frost in Eagle River?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Eagle River 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 148 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Eagle River?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Eagle River sees about 148 frost-free days — roughly May 12 through Oct 7, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Jun 2 to Sep 23, about 113 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Eagle River?
The federal record around Eagle River is a meaningful one — 234 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (176), 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 Eagle River?
With about 148 frost-free days between hard freezes, Eagle River 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 176 to 204 days — and cold frames or low tunnels buy more. Starting transplants indoors ahead of the May 12 hard-freeze normal stretches the season without touching the calendar.
Everything above is measured at Eagle River's scale — its 4b band and its 148-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Eagle River'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 Eagle River’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Eagle River's own scale — its own ~148-day season between 28°F freezes, the 2,084 acres it covers and 234 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Eagle River's own USDA hardiness band, zones 4bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Eagle River's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 12 and Oct 7 and the ~148-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 234 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Eagle River, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Eagle River's boundary and the 2,084 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 4b and a ~148-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Eagle River'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 Eagle River's 2,084 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Vilas County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Vilas 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 Vilas County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Eagle River's 2,084 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Eagle River you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 2,084 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 Eagle River-wide figureread your own land →
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