Elmwood, Wisconsin, sits in USDA hardiness zone 4b — a band that supports both cool-season staples and warm-season crops chosen to fit the local frost window.
Growers here do well with cabbage, cranberry, turkish rocket, and collard greens — with the usual caveat that any single yard's soil, sun, and drainage cast the deciding vote.
Even in Elmwood, 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 Elmwood 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 Elmwood — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Elmwood — the short answer
Elmwood, Wisconsin: USDA zone 4b, about 174 days between hard freezes, across 970 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 4b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 25
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 16
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~174
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 970 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 Elmwood's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Elmwood's 174-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Elmwood
Each reading below is measured for Elmwood itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredElmwood runs about 174 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
MeasuredElmwood 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 Elmwood is in
Elmwood sits in the Driftless Area — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Elmwood's own centroid rather than borrowed from Pierce County.
What Grows in Elmwood
Every plant below cleared Elmwood's own zone 4b and its 174-day season. Each card opens that plant's Wisconsin profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Elmwood?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 28; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 25 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 16 — 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 Elmwood
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Elmwood. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- ROBERT LABSUnderground Storage Tanks · 150 ft
- THOMPSON AUTO CAREUnderground Storage Tanks · 400 ft
- HENRY GERARTS FARMUnderground Storage Tanks · 650 ft
- CLARENCE JELKUnderground Storage Tanks · 650 ft
- BAIER CREEK FARMSUnderground Storage Tanks · 650 ft
- ED HINESUnderground Storage Tanks · 650 ft
- DEPT OF TRANSPORTATION RADIO TOWERUnderground Storage Tanks · 650 ft
- Steven SchoederUnderground Storage Tanks · 650 ft
- WAVERLY BARUnderground Storage Tanks · 650 ft
- MARGARET R HOFACKERUnderground Storage Tanks · 650 ft
- SPRING RIDGE ACRES INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 650 ft
- FERN TRAINORUnderground Storage Tanks · 650 ft
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Elmwood'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 Elmwood.
Total Sites
105
within ~10 miles of Elmwood
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
2 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Elmwood
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Elmwood
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Elmwood, Underground Storage Tanks runs higher than the national average — 66 sites within ~10 miles of Elmwood. 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 Elmwood
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 Elmwood average
Your land is one point inside Elmwood
Everything above resolves to Elmwood as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 970 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 Elmwood Average
Elmwood Average
- ●USDA Zones 4b, averaged across Elmwood
- ●One soil character for all of Elmwood
- ●Frost dates read at Elmwood's scale: Apr 25 to Oct 16
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Elmwood's 4b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Elmwood
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Elmwood, Wisconsin — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Elmwood averages can't show:
We read public map data around Elmwood — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Elmwood average
How we know this about Elmwood
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 Elmwood’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 Elmwood
When does frost risk typically end in Elmwood?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Elmwood typically lands around Apr 25, 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 16.
When is the first frost in Elmwood?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Elmwood typically arrives around Oct 16, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 2, so the watching starts about Sep 16 — about 174 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Elmwood?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Elmwood sees about 174 frost-free days — roughly Apr 25 through Oct 16, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 16 to Oct 2, about 139 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Elmwood?
The federal record around Elmwood is a meaningful one — 105 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (66), 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 I protect my plants from frost in Elmwood?
From about Sep 16 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 16 (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 16. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Elmwood's scale — its 4b band and its 174-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Elmwood'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 Elmwood’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Elmwood's own scale — its own ~174-day season between 28°F freezes, the 970 acres it covers and 105 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Elmwood's own USDA hardiness band, zones 4bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Elmwood's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 25 and Oct 16 and the ~174-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 105 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Elmwood, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Elmwood's boundary and the 970 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 4b and a ~174-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Elmwood's own centroid, the Driftless AreaUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Elmwood's 970 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Pierce County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Pierce 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 Pierce County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Elmwood's 970 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Elmwood you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 970 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 Elmwood-wide figureread your own land →
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