Laona, Wisconsin, sits in USDA hardiness zone 4b — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
Among the crops suited to this profile: cabbage, cranberry, cilantro, and collard greens. The site-level story — soil, sun, drainage — decides the rest.
Even in Laona, 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 Laona 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 Laona — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Laona — the short answer
Laona, Wisconsin: USDA zone 4b, about 147 days between hard freezes, across 1K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 4b
- 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 5
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~147
- 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 4b is Laona's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Laona's 147-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Laona
Each reading below is measured for Laona itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredLaona runs about 147 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
MeasuredLaona sits in USDA hardiness zone 4b.
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 Laona is in
Laona sits in the Northern Lakes and Forests — EPA Level III, inside the wider Northern Forests. That is read at Laona's own centroid rather than borrowed from Forest County.
What Grows in Laona
Every plant below cleared Laona's own zone 4b and its 147-day season. Each card opens that plant's Wisconsin profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Laona?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. 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 5 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. When the window is tight, the fall moves are quick ones — baby greens, radishes, and garlic set for next season.
What's on the federal record near Laona
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Laona. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- TOWN OF LAONAUnderground Storage Tanks · 750 ft
- HAM LAKE RESORTUnderground Storage Tanks · 1300 ft
- RAYS BAITUnderground Storage Tanks · 1300 ft
- USDA FS LAONA RANGER DISTUnderground Storage Tanks · 1300 ft
- DAVE PERANTEAUUnderground Storage Tanks · 1300 ft
- NU ROC NURSING HOMEUnderground Storage Tanks · 1300 ft
- FAMILY DOLLAR #7095Brownfields · 1400 ft
- Laona Shell LLCUnderground Storage Tanks · 1500 ft
- GTE - LAONAUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- NICOLET FUELSUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- YAEGER OIL CO INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- Novak Trucking Service LLCUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.9 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Laona'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 Laona.
Total Sites
108
within ~10 miles of Laona
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
3 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Laona
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Laona
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Laona, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Laona — Superfund (3 sites) and Nitrate (38 sites). Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
Superfund: Superfund sites represent the most severe contamination in the federal system.
Nitrate: Nitrate contamination primarily comes from agricultural fertilizer runoff and failing septic systems.
Commission professional soil testing before any food production (test for heavy metals, VOCs, and SVOCs).
Test well water for nitrate if you rely on a private well for irrigation (EPA standard: 10 mg/L).
Check your specific parcel in Laona
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 Laona average
Your land is one point inside Laona
Everything above resolves to Laona 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 Laona Average
Laona Average
- ●USDA Zones 4b, averaged across Laona
- ●One soil character for all of Laona
- ●Frost dates read at Laona's scale: May 11 to Oct 5
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Laona's 4b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Laona
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Laona, Wisconsin — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Laona averages can't show:
We read public map data around Laona — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Laona average
How we know this about Laona
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 Laona’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 Laona
When does frost risk typically end in Laona?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Laona 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 Laona?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Laona typically arrives around Oct 5, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 21, so the watching starts about Sep 5 — about 147 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Laona?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Laona sees about 147 frost-free days — roughly May 11 through Oct 5, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Jun 1 to Sep 21, about 112 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Laona?
The federal record around Laona is a meaningful one — 108 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (60), 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 gardeners stretch the season in Laona?
With about 147 frost-free days between hard freezes, Laona 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 175 to 203 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 Laona's scale — its 4b band and its 147-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Laona'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 Laona’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Laona's own scale — its own ~147-day season between 28°F freezes, the 1,247 acres it covers and 108 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Laona's own USDA hardiness band, zones 4bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Laona's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 11 and Oct 5 and the ~147-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 108 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Laona, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.1 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Laona's boundary and the 1,247 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 4b and a ~147-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Laona'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 Laona's 1,247 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Forest County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Forest 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 Forest County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Laona's 1,247 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Laona you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,247 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 Laona-wide figureread your own land →
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