Herbster, Wisconsin, sits in USDA hardiness zone 5a — a band that supports both cool-season staples and warm-season crops chosen to fit the local frost window.
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 Herbster, 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 Herbster 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 Herbster — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Herbster — the short answer
Herbster, Wisconsin: USDA zone 5a, about 177 days between hard freezes, across 4K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 5a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 1
- 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
- ~177
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 4K 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 Herbster's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Herbster's 177-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Herbster
Each reading below is measured for Herbster itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredHerbster runs about 177 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
MeasuredHerbster 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 Herbster is in
Herbster sits in the Northern Lakes and Forests — EPA Level III, inside the wider Northern Forests. That is read at Herbster's own centroid rather than borrowed from Bayfield County.
What Grows in Herbster
Every plant below cleared Herbster's own zone 5a and its 177-day season. Each card opens that plant's Wisconsin profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Herbster?
Too late for some crops, right on time for others — a growing season is a sequence, not a deadline. Cool-season crops can go in from around Apr 3; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 1 (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. 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 Herbster
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Herbster. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- Jims Auto IncUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- NORTHLAND GASBrownfields · 0.7 mi
- JIMS AUTOMOTIVEBrownfields · 0.7 mi
- NORTHLAND GASUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- CARDINAL LUMBER COUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.9 mi
- TOWN OF CLOVERUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.2 mi
- Donald J TahtinenUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.2 mi
- ISAKSSON LUMBER COUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.2 mi
- MARK A MAKOWSKIUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.2 mi
- ELSIE BLUE GENERAL STORE AND TIMBERRR BARBrownfields · 1.2 mi
- HERBSTER MARINEBrownfields · 1.2 mi
- South Shore C StoreUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.2 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Herbster'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 Herbster.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Herbster
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Herbster
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Herbster, Underground Storage Tanks runs higher than the national average — 29 sites within ~10 miles of Herbster. It's not cause for alarm — it's worth knowing, and there's a sensible way to grow around it.
Underground Storage Tanks: Underground storage tanks are the single most common source of soil contamination near homes and gardens.
Use raised beds with imported soil — this eliminates the primary soil-contact pathway.
Check your specific parcel in Herbster
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 Herbster average
Your land is one point inside Herbster
Everything above resolves to Herbster as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 4K 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 Herbster Average
Herbster Average
- ●USDA Zones 5a, averaged across Herbster
- ●One soil character for all of Herbster
- ●Frost dates read at Herbster's scale: May 1 to Oct 25
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Herbster's 5a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Herbster
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Herbster, Wisconsin — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Herbster averages can't show:
We read public map data around Herbster — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Herbster average
How we know this about Herbster
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 Herbster’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 Herbster
When does frost risk typically end in Herbster?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Herbster typically lands around May 1, 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 22.
When is the first frost in Herbster?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Herbster 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 177 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Herbster?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Herbster sees about 177 frost-free days — roughly May 1 through Oct 25, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 22 to Oct 11, about 142 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Herbster?
The federal record around Herbster is light — 47 documented sites across the 9 federal source types we checked, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (29), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.7 miles out — and proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard. Growing food here starts from a strong position; a soil test before new food beds settles any site-specific question.
How do I protect my plants from frost in Herbster?
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 Herbster's scale — its 5a band and its 177-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Herbster'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 Herbster’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Herbster's own scale — its own ~177-day season between 28°F freezes, the 3,566 acres it covers and 47 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Herbster's own USDA hardiness band, zones 5aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Herbster's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 1 and Oct 25 and the ~177-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 47 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Herbster, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.7 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Herbster's boundary and the 3,566 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 5a and a ~177-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Herbster'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 Herbster's 3,566 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Bayfield County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Bayfield 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 Bayfield County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Herbster's 3,566 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Herbster you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 3,566 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.7 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 Herbster-wide figureread your own land →
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