Greenfield, Wisconsin, sits in USDA hardiness zone 5b — room for a real mix of vegetables, fruit, and perennials matched to the local frost calendar.
The conditions favor cabbage, cranberry, lavender, and collard greens, among others — though every individual site edits that list with its own soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Greenfield, 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 Greenfield 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 Greenfield — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Greenfield — the short answer
Greenfield, Wisconsin: USDA zone 5b, about 197 days between hard freezes, across 7K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 5b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 14
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 28
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~197
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- City area
- 7K 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 Greenfield's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Greenfield's 197-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Greenfield
Each reading below is measured for Greenfield itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredGreenfield runs about 197 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
MeasuredGreenfield 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 Greenfield is in
Greenfield sits in the Southeastern Wisconsin Till Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Greenfield's own centroid rather than borrowed from Milwaukee County.
What Grows in Greenfield
Every plant below cleared Greenfield's own zone 5b and its 197-day season. Each card opens that plant's Wisconsin profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Greenfield?
Rarely: the season closes in stages, not all at once, and each stage has its crops. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 17; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 14 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 28 — 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 Greenfield
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Greenfield. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- 76TH STREET GARAGEUnderground Storage Tanks · 650 ft
- CLARK OIL #480Underground Storage Tanks · 650 ft
- BEST BUY STORE #25Brownfields · 650 ft
- GREENFIELD AMOCOUnderground Storage Tanks · 950 ft
- ROGER A & PHYLLIS J WESCOTTUnderground Storage Tanks · 1300 ft
- GOLF GALAXY #3004Brownfields · 1300 ft
- ALS RIB HOUSEUnderground Storage Tanks · 1500 ft
- $3.95 UNIPRICE CLEANERSBrownfields · 1700 ft
- WESTPORT MOTORS INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 1700 ft
- FINISHMASTER INCBrownfields · 1700 ft
- PURATH HEADACHE & NEUROLOGY SCBrownfields · 1800 ft
- FAMILY PRIDE CLEANING CENTERBrownfields · 1800 ft
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Greenfield'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 Greenfield.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Greenfield
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Greenfield
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.
- •TRI facilities report what they release. Check the wind — downwind beds catch more of it.
Check your specific parcel in Greenfield
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 Greenfield average
Your land is one point inside Greenfield
Everything above resolves to Greenfield as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 7K 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 Greenfield Average
Greenfield Average
- ●USDA Zones 5b, averaged across Greenfield
- ●One soil character for all of Greenfield
- ●Frost dates read at Greenfield's scale: Apr 14 to Oct 28
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Greenfield's 5b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Greenfield
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Greenfield, Wisconsin — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Greenfield averages can't show:
We read public map data around Greenfield — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Greenfield average
How we know this about Greenfield
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 Greenfield’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 Greenfield
When does frost risk typically end in Greenfield?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Greenfield typically lands around Apr 14, 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 5.
When is the first frost in Greenfield?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Greenfield typically arrives around Oct 28, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 14, so the watching starts about Sep 28 — about 197 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Greenfield?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Greenfield sees about 197 frost-free days — roughly Apr 14 through Oct 28, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 5 to Oct 14, about 162 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Greenfield?
The federal record around Greenfield is a meaningful one — 5,213 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (2,651), 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 Greenfield?
From about Sep 28 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 28 (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 28. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Greenfield's scale — its 5b band and its 197-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Greenfield'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 Greenfield’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Greenfield's own scale — its own ~197-day season between 28°F freezes, the 7,380 acres it covers and 5,213 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Greenfield's own USDA hardiness band, zones 5bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Greenfield's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 14 and Oct 28 and the ~197-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 5,213 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Greenfield, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.1 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Greenfield's boundary and the 7,380 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 5b and a ~197-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Greenfield'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 Greenfield's 7,380 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Milwaukee County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Milwaukee 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 Milwaukee County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Greenfield's 7,380 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Greenfield you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 7,380 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 Greenfield-wide figureread your own land →