Forestville, Wisconsin, sits in USDA hardiness zone 5b — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
Growers here do well with cabbage, cranberry, lavender, and collard greens — with the usual caveat that any single yard's soil, sun, and drainage cast the deciding vote.
Even in Forestville, 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 Forestville 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 Forestville — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Forestville — the short answer
Forestville, Wisconsin: USDA zone 5b, about 189 days between hard freezes, across 336 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 5b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 19
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 25
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~189
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 336 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 Forestville's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Forestville's 189-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Forestville
Each reading below is measured for Forestville itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredForestville runs about 189 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
MeasuredForestville 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 Forestville is in
Forestville sits in the North Central Hardwood Forests — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Forestville's own centroid rather than borrowed from Door County.
What Grows in Forestville
Every plant below cleared Forestville's own zone 5b and its 189-day season. Each card opens that plant's Wisconsin profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Forestville?
For most of the year, no — what changes is which crops still fit the days remaining. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 22; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 19 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 25 — 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 Forestville
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Forestville. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- FORESTVILLE BUILDERS & SUPPLYBrownfields · 350 ft
- RAYMOND A DEXUnderground Storage Tanks · 350 ft
- Forestville One Stop LLCUnderground Storage Tanks · 450 ft
- RALPH UECKER & SONSUnderground Storage Tanks · 650 ft
- KIEHNAU STANDARD SERVICEUnderground Storage Tanks · 700 ft
- FORESTVILLE BLDRS & SUPPLY INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 800 ft
- CHARLES & CLARA SMITHUnderground Storage Tanks · 950 ft
- DR-26/25E/32-0057Nitrate · 1200 ft
- DOOR COUNTY CO OPUnderground Storage Tanks · 1300 ft
- HARVEY SEILERUnderground Storage Tanks · 2100 ft
- BILL GOETTELMANUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.0 mi
- DALE UECKERUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.5 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Forestville'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 Forestville.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Forestville
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Forestville
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Forestville, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Forestville — CAFO (7 sites) and Underground Storage Tanks (141 sites). That's not a problem with your land — it's information about it.
CAFO: CAFOs pose a different contamination profile than chemical sources.
Underground Storage Tanks: Underground storage tanks are the single most common source of soil contamination near homes and gardens.
Wash all produce consumed raw thoroughly, especially leafy greens grown near CAFOs.
Use raised beds with imported soil — this eliminates the primary soil-contact pathway.
Check your specific parcel in Forestville
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 Forestville average
Your land is one point inside Forestville
Everything above resolves to Forestville as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 336 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 Forestville Average
Forestville Average
- ●USDA Zones 5b, averaged across Forestville
- ●One soil character for all of Forestville
- ●Frost dates read at Forestville's scale: Apr 19 to Oct 25
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Forestville's 5b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Forestville
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Forestville, Wisconsin — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Forestville averages can't show:
We read public map data around Forestville — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Forestville average
How we know this about Forestville
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 Forestville’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 Forestville
When does frost risk typically end in Forestville?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Forestville typically lands around Apr 19, 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 10.
When is the first frost in Forestville?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Forestville typically arrives around Oct 25, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 11, so the watching starts about Sep 25 — about 189 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Forestville?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Forestville sees about 189 frost-free days — roughly Apr 19 through Oct 25, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 10 to Oct 11, about 154 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Forestville?
The federal record around Forestville is a meaningful one — 208 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (141), the nearest Brownfields 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 Forestville?
From about Sep 25 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 25 (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 25. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Forestville's scale — its 5b band and its 189-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Forestville'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 Forestville’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Forestville's own scale — its own ~189-day season between 28°F freezes, the 336 acres it covers and 208 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Forestville's own USDA hardiness band, zones 5bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Forestville's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 19 and Oct 25 and the ~189-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 208 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Forestville, the closest Brownfields record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Forestville's boundary and the 336 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 5b and a ~189-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Forestville's own centroid, the North Central Hardwood ForestsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Forestville's 336 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Door County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Door 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 Door County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Forestville's 336 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Forestville you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 336 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Brownfields 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 Forestville-wide figureread your own land →
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