Greenleaf, Wisconsin, sits in USDA hardiness zone 5b — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
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 Greenleaf, 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 Greenleaf 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 Greenleaf — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Greenleaf — the short answer
Greenleaf, Wisconsin: USDA zone 5b, about 185 days between hard freezes, across 660 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 21
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~185
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 660 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 Greenleaf's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Greenleaf's 185-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Greenleaf
Each reading below is measured for Greenleaf itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredGreenleaf runs about 185 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
MeasuredGreenleaf 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 Greenleaf is in
Greenleaf sits in the Southeastern Wisconsin Till Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Greenleaf's own centroid rather than borrowed from Brown County.
What Grows in Greenleaf
Every plant below cleared Greenleaf's own zone 5b and its 185-day season. Each card opens that plant's Wisconsin profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Greenleaf?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. 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 21 — 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 Greenleaf
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Greenleaf. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- Brown County Hwy Dept - GreenleafUnderground Storage Tanks · 350 ft
- PROGRESSIVE FARMERS COOPBrownfields · 1200 ft
- PROGRESSIVE FARMERS COOPUnderground Storage Tanks · 1200 ft
- Fishtail LLCUnderground Storage Tanks · 1200 ft
- Lucille SchultzUnderground Storage Tanks · 1700 ft
- DINYS SUPER SERVICEUnderground Storage Tanks · 1700 ft
- Paul HahnUnderground Storage Tanks · 1700 ft
- Wilmer A RahnUnderground Storage Tanks · 1700 ft
- Edmund DobberpuhlUnderground Storage Tanks · 1700 ft
- GILBERT SALMUnderground Storage Tanks · 1700 ft
- LEONARD J WILLENSUnderground Storage Tanks · 1700 ft
- James M NiesUnderground Storage Tanks · 1700 ft
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Greenleaf'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 Greenleaf.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Greenleaf
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Greenleaf
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Greenleaf, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Greenleaf — CAFO (29 sites) and Toxics Release Inventory (60 sites). Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
CAFO: CAFOs pose a different contamination profile than chemical sources.
Toxics Release Inventory: TRI facilities report annual chemical releases to air, water, and land.
Wash all produce consumed raw thoroughly, especially leafy greens grown near CAFOs.
Check prevailing wind direction — downwind parcels face higher exposure than upwind or crosswind locations.
Check your specific parcel in Greenleaf
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 Greenleaf average
Your land is one point inside Greenleaf
Everything above resolves to Greenleaf as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 660 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 Greenleaf Average
Greenleaf Average
- ●USDA Zones 5b, averaged across Greenleaf
- ●One soil character for all of Greenleaf
- ●Frost dates read at Greenleaf's scale: Apr 19 to Oct 21
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Greenleaf's 5b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Greenleaf
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Greenleaf, Wisconsin — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Greenleaf averages can't show:
We read public map data around Greenleaf — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Greenleaf average
How we know this about Greenleaf
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 Greenleaf’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 Greenleaf
When does frost risk typically end in Greenleaf?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Greenleaf 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 Greenleaf?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Greenleaf typically arrives around Oct 21, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 7, so the watching starts about Sep 21 — about 185 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Greenleaf?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Greenleaf sees about 185 frost-free days — roughly Apr 19 through Oct 21, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 10 to Oct 7, about 150 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Greenleaf?
The federal record around Greenleaf is a meaningful one — 651 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (322), 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 Greenleaf?
From about Sep 21 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 21 (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 21. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Greenleaf's scale — its 5b band and its 185-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Greenleaf'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 Greenleaf’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Greenleaf's own scale — its own ~185-day season between 28°F freezes, the 660 acres it covers and 651 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Greenleaf's own USDA hardiness band, zones 5bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Greenleaf's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 19 and Oct 21 and the ~185-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 651 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Greenleaf, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Greenleaf's boundary and the 660 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 5b and a ~185-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Greenleaf'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 Greenleaf's 660 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Brown County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Brown 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 Brown County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Greenleaf's 660 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Greenleaf you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 660 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 Greenleaf-wide figureread your own land →
More in Wisconsin
Wider growing context
What grows across WisconsinGreenleaf sits outside our named growing regions, so Wisconsin as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides