Gresham, Wisconsin, sits in USDA hardiness zone 5a — 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 Gresham, 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 Gresham 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 Gresham — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Gresham — the short answer
Gresham, Wisconsin: USDA zone 5a, about 163 days between hard freezes, across 730 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 5a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 2
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 12
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~163
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 730 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 5a is Gresham's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Gresham's 163-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Gresham
Each reading below is measured for Gresham itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredGresham runs about 163 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
MeasuredGresham sits in USDA hardiness zone 5a.
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 Gresham is in
Gresham sits in the North Central Hardwood Forests — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Gresham's own centroid rather than borrowed from Shawano County.
What Grows in Gresham
Every plant below cleared Gresham's own zone 5a and its 163-day season. Each card opens that plant's Wisconsin profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Gresham?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. Cool-season crops can go in from around Apr 4; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 2 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 12 — 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 Gresham
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Gresham. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- EBERTS GARAGEUnderground Storage Tanks · 200 ft
- RON PLESHEKUnderground Storage Tanks · 200 ft
- P ERIC KUUSINENUnderground Storage Tanks · 200 ft
- SHAWANO COUNTY HWY DEPTUnderground Storage Tanks · 200 ft
- Hoffman Transit Co IncUnderground Storage Tanks · 200 ft
- Flaugers Service StationUnderground Storage Tanks · 200 ft
- Willis LamberiesUnderground Storage Tanks · 200 ft
- Gresham Central StationUnderground Storage Tanks · 450 ft
- Harwal Machine IncUnderground Storage Tanks · 500 ft
- SCHABOW BROSUnderground Storage Tanks · 600 ft
- GRESHAM CO OPUnderground Storage Tanks · 1000 ft
- Gresham Town MartUnderground Storage Tanks · 1000 ft
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Gresham'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 Gresham.
Total Sites
261
within ~10 miles of Gresham
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
1 Toxics Release Inventory facility
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Gresham
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Gresham
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Gresham, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Gresham — PFAS (4 sites) and Nitrate (108 sites). That's not a problem with your land — it's information about it.
PFAS: PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) are called "forever chemicals" because they do not biodegrade.
Nitrate: Nitrate contamination primarily comes from agricultural fertilizer runoff and failing septic systems.
Test irrigation water source — this is the primary pathway for PFAS to reach garden crops.
Test well water for nitrate if you rely on a private well for irrigation (EPA standard: 10 mg/L).
Check your specific parcel in Gresham
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 Gresham average
Your land is one point inside Gresham
Everything above resolves to Gresham as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 730 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 Gresham Average
Gresham Average
- ●USDA Zones 5a, averaged across Gresham
- ●One soil character for all of Gresham
- ●Frost dates read at Gresham's scale: May 2 to Oct 12
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Gresham's 5a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Gresham
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Gresham, Wisconsin — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Gresham averages can't show:
We read public map data around Gresham — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Gresham average
How we know this about Gresham
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 Gresham’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 Gresham
When does frost risk typically end in Gresham?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Gresham typically lands around May 2, 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 23.
When is the first frost in Gresham?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Gresham typically arrives around Oct 12, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 28, so the watching starts about Sep 12 — about 163 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Gresham?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Gresham sees about 163 frost-free days — roughly May 2 through Oct 12, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 23 to Sep 28, about 128 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Gresham?
The federal record around Gresham is a meaningful one — 261 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (131), 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 Gresham?
From about Sep 12 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 12 (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 12. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Gresham's scale — its 5a band and its 163-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Gresham'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 Gresham’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Gresham's own scale — its own ~163-day season between 28°F freezes, the 730 acres it covers and 261 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Gresham's own USDA hardiness band, zones 5aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Gresham's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 2 and Oct 12 and the ~163-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 261 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Gresham, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Gresham's boundary and the 730 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 5a and a ~163-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Gresham'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 Gresham's 730 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Shawano County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Shawano 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 Shawano County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Gresham's 730 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Gresham you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 730 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 Gresham-wide figureread your own land →
More in Wisconsin
Wider growing context
What grows across WisconsinGresham sits outside our named growing regions, so Wisconsin as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides