Gordon, Wisconsin, sits in USDA hardiness zone 4a — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
On paper, cabbage, cranberry, cilantro, and collard greens all suit these conditions — on the ground, soil, sun, and drainage make the final call.
Even in Gordon, 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 Gordon 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 Gordon — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Gordon — the short answer
Gordon, Wisconsin: USDA zone 4a, about 144 days between hard freezes, across 1K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 4a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 11
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 2
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~144
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 1K 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 4a is Gordon's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Gordon's 144-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Gordon
Each reading below is measured for Gordon itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredGordon runs about 144 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
MeasuredGordon sits in USDA hardiness zone 4a.
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 Gordon is in
Gordon sits in the Northern Lakes and Forests — EPA Level III, inside the wider Northern Forests. That is read at Gordon's own centroid rather than borrowed from Douglas County.
What Grows in Gordon
Every plant below cleared Gordon's own zone 4a and its 144-day season. Each card opens that plant's Wisconsin profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Gordon?
For most of the year, no — what changes is which crops still fit the days remaining. Cool-season crops can go in from around Apr 13; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 11 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 2 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. Short seasons reward decisiveness — quick-maturing varieties late, hardy greens under cover, and next year’s garlic in the ground before it closes.
What's on the federal record near Gordon
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Gordon. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- L & R MOTORSBrownfields · 1700 ft
- Ico Service Station #120Underground Storage Tanks · 1700 ft
- FOREST POINT RESORTUnderground Storage Tanks · 1700 ft
- J Js Harbor IncUnderground Storage Tanks · 1700 ft
- MARVIN REINOLTUnderground Storage Tanks · 1700 ft
- Philip PucciUnderground Storage Tanks · 1700 ft
- Robert WilliamsUnderground Storage Tanks · 1700 ft
- Smith & YoungquistUnderground Storage Tanks · 1800 ft
- NORTHWOOD SCHOOL DIST GORDON ELEMENTARYBrownfields · 0.5 mi
- Gordon Correctional CenterUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.0 mi
- DOC WCCS GORDON CORR CTRBrownfields · 2.1 mi
- Old Homestead ResortUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.0 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Gordon'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 Gordon.
Total Sites
194
within ~10 miles of Gordon
Risk Level
Moderate
Highest-severity
4 mining sites (prospects, none worked)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Gordon
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Gordon
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Gordon, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 112 sites within ~10 miles of Gordon. Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
Nitrate: Nitrate contamination primarily comes from agricultural fertilizer runoff and failing septic systems.
Test well water for nitrate if you rely on a private well for irrigation (EPA standard: 10 mg/L).
Check your specific parcel in Gordon
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 Gordon average
Your land is one point inside Gordon
Everything above resolves to Gordon as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 1K 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 Gordon Average
Gordon Average
- ●USDA Zones 4a, averaged across Gordon
- ●One soil character for all of Gordon
- ●Frost dates read at Gordon's scale: May 11 to Oct 2
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Gordon's 4a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Gordon
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Gordon, Wisconsin — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Gordon averages can't show:
We read public map data around Gordon — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Gordon average
How we know this about Gordon
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 Gordon’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 Gordon
When does frost risk typically end in Gordon?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Gordon typically lands around May 11, 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 1.
When is the first frost in Gordon?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Gordon typically arrives around Oct 2, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 18, so the watching starts about Sep 2 — about 144 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Gordon?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Gordon sees about 144 frost-free days — roughly May 11 through Oct 2, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Jun 1 to Sep 18, about 109 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Gordon?
The federal record around Gordon shows 194 documented sites, mostly Nitrate entries (112), the nearest Brownfields record about 0.3 miles out — a typical footprint for a growing area, and proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard. It's worth seeing which recorded sites sit closest to where you grow, and testing the soil before new food beds near any of them.
How do gardeners stretch the season in Gordon?
With about 144 frost-free days between hard freezes, Gordon 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 172 to 200 days — and cold frames or low tunnels buy more. Starting transplants indoors ahead of the May 11 hard-freeze normal stretches the season without touching the calendar.
Everything above is measured at Gordon's scale — its 4a band and its 144-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Gordon'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 Gordon’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Gordon's own scale — its own ~144-day season between 28°F freezes, the 1,174 acres it covers and 194 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Gordon's own USDA hardiness band, zones 4aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Gordon's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 11 and Oct 2 and the ~144-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 194 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Gordon, the closest Brownfields record about 0.3 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Gordon's boundary and the 1,174 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 4a and a ~144-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Gordon'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 Gordon's 1,174 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Douglas County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Douglas 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 Douglas County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Gordon's 1,174 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Gordon you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,174 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Brownfields 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 Gordon-wide figureread your own land →