Elkhorn, Wisconsin, sits in USDA hardiness zone 5b — room for a real mix of vegetables, fruit, and perennials matched to the local frost calendar.
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 Elkhorn, 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 Elkhorn 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 Elkhorn — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Elkhorn — the short answer
Elkhorn, Wisconsin: USDA zone 5b, about 191 days between hard freezes, across 5K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 5b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 15
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 23
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~191
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- City area
- 5K 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 5b is Elkhorn's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Elkhorn's 191-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Elkhorn
Each reading below is measured for Elkhorn itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredElkhorn runs about 191 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
MeasuredElkhorn sits in USDA hardiness zone 5b.
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 Elkhorn is in
Elkhorn sits in the Southeastern Wisconsin Till Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Elkhorn's own centroid rather than borrowed from Walworth County.
What Grows in Elkhorn
Every plant below cleared Elkhorn's own zone 5b and its 191-day season. Each card opens that plant's Wisconsin profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Elkhorn?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 18; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 15 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 23 — 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 Elkhorn
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Elkhorn. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- HOMESTEAD OF ELKHORN INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 550 ft
- QUALITY CAR WASHUnderground Storage Tanks · 600 ft
- ELKHORN MIDDLE SCHOOLUnderground Storage Tanks · 900 ft
- Caseys General Store #1923Underground Storage Tanks · 900 ft
- ELKHORN AREA HIGH SCHOOLUnderground Storage Tanks · 1200 ft
- CONSUMERS COOP OF WALWORTH CNTYUnderground Storage Tanks · 1400 ft
- SPEEDWAY 4086Brownfields · 1400 ft
- Speedway #4086Underground Storage Tanks · 1400 ft
- PALMER HAMILTON LLCBrownfields · 1500 ft
- MESA INDUSTRIES INCToxics Release Inventory · 1500 ft
- DUANE KURTHUnderground Storage Tanks · 1600 ft
- FRANKS MUFFLER SHOPUnderground Storage Tanks · 1600 ft
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Elkhorn'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 Elkhorn.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Elkhorn
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Elkhorn
Highest-Severity Sites
Know Before You Grow
- •Underground tanks leak petroleum as they age — near a former filling station, test the soil.
- •Near a brownfield, raised beds of imported soil give your food clean ground.
- •On a private well, test for nitrates: above 10 mg/L the water needs treatment before irrigating.
Check your specific parcel in Elkhorn
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 Elkhorn average
Your land is one point inside Elkhorn
Everything above resolves to Elkhorn as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 5K 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 Elkhorn Average
Elkhorn Average
- ●USDA Zones 5b, averaged across Elkhorn
- ●One soil character for all of Elkhorn
- ●Frost dates read at Elkhorn's scale: Apr 15 to Oct 23
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Elkhorn's 5b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Elkhorn
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Elkhorn, Wisconsin — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Elkhorn averages can't show:
We read public map data around Elkhorn — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Elkhorn average
How we know this about Elkhorn
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 Elkhorn’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 Elkhorn
When does frost risk typically end in Elkhorn?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Elkhorn typically lands around Apr 15, 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 6.
When is the first frost in Elkhorn?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Elkhorn typically arrives around Oct 23, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 9, so the watching starts about Sep 23 — about 191 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Elkhorn?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Elkhorn sees about 191 frost-free days — roughly Apr 15 through Oct 23, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 6 to Oct 9, about 156 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Elkhorn?
The federal record around Elkhorn is a meaningful one — 708 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (379), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.1 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 Elkhorn?
From about Sep 23 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 23 (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 23. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Elkhorn's scale — its 5b band and its 191-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Elkhorn'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 Elkhorn’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Elkhorn's own scale — its own ~191-day season between 28°F freezes, the 5,224 acres it covers and 708 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Elkhorn's own USDA hardiness band, zones 5bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Elkhorn's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 15 and Oct 23 and the ~191-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 708 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Elkhorn, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.1 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Elkhorn's boundary and the 5,224 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 5b and a ~191-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Elkhorn'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 Elkhorn's 5,224 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Walworth County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Walworth 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 Walworth County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Elkhorn's 5,224 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Elkhorn you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 5,224 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.1 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 Elkhorn-wide figureread your own land →
More in Wisconsin
Wider growing context
What grows across WisconsinElkhorn sits outside our named growing regions, so Wisconsin as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides