Loyal, Wisconsin, sits in USDA hardiness zone 4b — a band that supports both cool-season staples and warm-season crops chosen to fit the local frost window.
Among the crops suited to this profile: cabbage, cranberry, turkish rocket, and collard greens. The site-level story — soil, sun, drainage — decides the rest.
Even in Loyal, 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 Loyal 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 Loyal — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Loyal — the short answer
Loyal, Wisconsin: USDA zone 4b, about 167 days between hard freezes, across 854 acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 4b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 27
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 11
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~167
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- City area
- 854 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 Loyal's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Loyal's 167-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Loyal
Each reading below is measured for Loyal itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredLoyal runs about 167 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
MeasuredLoyal 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 Loyal is in
Loyal sits in the North Central Hardwood Forests — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Loyal's own centroid rather than borrowed from Clark County.
What Grows in Loyal
Every plant below cleared Loyal's own zone 4b and its 167-day season. Each card opens that plant's Wisconsin profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Loyal?
For most of the year, no — what changes is which crops still fit the days remaining. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 30; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 27 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 11 — 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 Loyal
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Loyal. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- C J AUTO & MACHINE INCBrownfields · 300 ft
- SMITH FEED SERVICE INCBrownfields · 350 ft
- SMITH FEED SERVICEUnderground Storage Tanks · 350 ft
- SMITH FEEDSUnderground Storage Tanks · 350 ft
- Kwik Trip #374Underground Storage Tanks · 550 ft
- DAHL MOTORS INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 550 ft
- SEEMAN OILUnderground Storage Tanks · 650 ft
- CLARK COUNTY FARMSUnderground Storage Tanks · 650 ft
- K KORNERS TAVERNUnderground Storage Tanks · 650 ft
- JOE ESSELMANUnderground Storage Tanks · 650 ft
- TOWNSHIP OF BEAVERUnderground Storage Tanks · 650 ft
- ROBERT KOLLMANSBERGERUnderground Storage Tanks · 650 ft
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Loyal'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 Loyal.
Total Sites
138
within ~10 miles of Loyal
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
1 Superfund site (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Loyal
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Loyal
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Loyal, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Loyal — CAFO (4 sites) and Underground Storage Tanks (95 sites). That's not a problem with your land — it's information about it.
CAFO: CAFOs pose a different contamination profile than chemical sources.
Underground Storage Tanks: Underground storage tanks are the single most common source of soil contamination near homes and gardens.
Wash all produce consumed raw thoroughly, especially leafy greens grown near CAFOs.
Use raised beds with imported soil — this eliminates the primary soil-contact pathway.
Check your specific parcel in Loyal
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 Loyal average
Your land is one point inside Loyal
Everything above resolves to Loyal as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 854 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 Loyal Average
Loyal Average
- ●USDA Zones 4b, averaged across Loyal
- ●One soil character for all of Loyal
- ●Frost dates read at Loyal's scale: Apr 27 to Oct 11
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Loyal's 4b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Loyal
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Loyal, Wisconsin — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Loyal averages can't show:
We read public map data around Loyal — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Loyal average
How we know this about Loyal
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 Loyal’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 Loyal
When does frost risk typically end in Loyal?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Loyal typically lands around Apr 27, 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 18.
When is the first frost in Loyal?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Loyal typically arrives around Oct 11, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 27, so the watching starts about Sep 11 — about 167 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Loyal?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Loyal sees about 167 frost-free days — roughly Apr 27 through Oct 11, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 18 to Sep 27, about 132 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Loyal?
The federal record around Loyal is a meaningful one — 138 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (95), the nearest Brownfields 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 Loyal?
From about Sep 11 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 11 (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 11. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Loyal's scale — its 4b band and its 167-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Loyal'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 Loyal’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Loyal's own scale — its own ~167-day season between 28°F freezes, the 854 acres it covers and 138 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Loyal's own USDA hardiness band, zones 4bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Loyal's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 27 and Oct 11 and the ~167-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 138 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Loyal, the closest Brownfields record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Loyal's boundary and the 854 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 4b and a ~167-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Loyal'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 Loyal's 854 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Clark County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Clark 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 Clark County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Loyal's 854 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Loyal you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 854 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Brownfields 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 Loyal-wide figureread your own land →
More in Wisconsin
Wider growing context
What grows across WisconsinLoyal sits outside our named growing regions, so Wisconsin as a whole is its closest context here.