Mason, Wisconsin, sits in USDA hardiness zone 4b — enough range to grow cool-season vegetables, hardy fruit, and warm-season crops that mature before the first hard frost.
Reliable performers under these conditions include cabbage, cranberry, turkish rocket, and collard greens; what your own ground favors still comes down to its soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Mason, 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 Mason 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 Mason — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Mason — the short answer
Mason, Wisconsin: USDA zone 4b, about 151 days between hard freezes, across 492 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 4b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 7
- 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
- ~151
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 492 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 Mason's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Mason's 151-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Mason
Each reading below is measured for Mason itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredMason runs about 151 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
MeasuredMason 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 Mason is in
Mason sits in the Northern Lakes and Forests — EPA Level III, inside the wider Northern Forests. That is read at Mason's own centroid rather than borrowed from Bayfield County.
What Grows in Mason
Every plant below cleared Mason's own zone 4b and its 151-day season. Each card opens that plant's Wisconsin profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Mason?
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 9; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 7 (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. As the window narrows, the plantings just get faster — fall brassicas, then greens, then garlic to finish.
What's on the federal record near Mason
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Mason. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- LULICH IMPLEMENT INCBrownfields · 1.5 mi
- Bayfield Cnty Hwy Dept GarageUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.7 mi
- G & M Country StoreUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.1 mi
- BA-46/06W/22-0136Nitrate · 2.2 mi
- TOWN OF KELLYUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.6 mi
- Bibon TavernUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.7 mi
- Sechens Auto ServiceUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.7 mi
- DICK SQUIRESUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.7 mi
- TOWN OF LINCOLNUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.7 mi
- TOWN OF NAMAKAGON GARAGEUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.8 mi
- Town Of Mason GarageUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.0 mi
- OLD SCHRAUFNAGEL BLDGUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.1 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Mason'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 Mason.
Total Sites
72
within ~10 miles of Mason
Risk Level
Moderate
Highest-severity
14 mining sites (prospects, none worked)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Mason
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Mason
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Mason, Mining runs higher than the national average — 14 sites within ~10 miles of Mason. That's not a problem with your land — it's information about it.
Mining: Mining sites — both historic and active — can leach heavy metals (arsenic, lead, cadmium, mercury) into soil and water for centuries after operations cease.
Test soil for heavy metals (lead, arsenic, cadmium, mercury) — this is essential near any mining site.
Check your specific parcel in Mason
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 Mason average
Your land is one point inside Mason
Everything above resolves to Mason as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 492 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 Mason Average
Mason Average
- ●USDA Zones 4b, averaged across Mason
- ●One soil character for all of Mason
- ●Frost dates read at Mason's scale: May 7 to Oct 5
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Mason's 4b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Mason
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Mason, Wisconsin — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Mason averages can't show:
We read public map data around Mason — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Mason average
How we know this about Mason
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 Mason’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 Mason
When does frost risk typically end in Mason?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Mason typically lands around May 7, 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 28.
When is the first frost in Mason?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Mason 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 151 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Mason?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Mason sees about 151 frost-free days — roughly May 7 through Oct 5, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 28 to Sep 21, about 116 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Mason?
The federal record around Mason shows 72 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (37), the nearest Brownfields record about 1.5 miles out — a typical footprint for a growing area, and proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard. It's worth seeing which recorded sites sit closest to where you grow, and testing the soil before new food beds near any of them.
How do I protect my plants from frost in Mason?
From about Sep 5 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 5 (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 5. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Mason's scale — its 4b band and its 151-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Mason'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 Mason’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Mason's own scale — its own ~151-day season between 28°F freezes, the 492 acres it covers and 72 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Mason's own USDA hardiness band, zones 4bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Mason's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 7 and Oct 5 and the ~151-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 72 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Mason, the closest Brownfields record about 1.5 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Mason's boundary and the 492 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 4b and a ~151-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Mason'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 Mason's 492 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 Mason's 492 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Mason you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 492 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Brownfields record about 1.5 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 Mason-wide figureread your own land →
More in Wisconsin
Wider growing context
What grows across WisconsinMason sits outside our named growing regions, so Wisconsin as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides