Niagara, 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.
The conditions favor cabbage, cranberry, turkish rocket, and collard greens, among others — though every individual site edits that list with its own soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Niagara, 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 Niagara 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 Niagara — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Niagara — the short answer
Niagara, Wisconsin: USDA zone 4b, about 152 days between hard freezes, across 2K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 4b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 9
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 8
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~152
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- City area
- 2K 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 Niagara's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Niagara's 152-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Niagara
Each reading below is measured for Niagara itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredNiagara runs about 152 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
MeasuredNiagara 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 Niagara is in
Niagara sits in the Northern Lakes and Forests — EPA Level III, inside the wider Northern Forests. That is read at Niagara's own centroid rather than borrowed from Marinette County.
What Grows in Niagara
Every plant below cleared Niagara's own zone 4b and its 152-day season. Each card opens that plant's Wisconsin profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Niagara?
For most of the year, no — what changes is which crops still fit the days remaining. Cool-season crops can go in from around Apr 11; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 9 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 8 — 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 Niagara
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Niagara. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- NIAGARA ELEMENTARY SCHOOLBrownfields · 1000 ft
- DOLLAR GENERAL #22346Brownfields · 1600 ft
- JOSEPH ZAWADAUnderground Storage Tanks · 1600 ft
- Krist Food Mart #51Underground Storage Tanks · 1800 ft
- TOWN OF NIAGARAUnderground Storage Tanks · 1800 ft
- BUTCH NEUENSUnderground Storage Tanks · 1800 ft
- SCHNEIDERS IRON & METAL INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 1800 ft
- GEORGE HAMMUnderground Storage Tanks · 1800 ft
- MERV NEVINSUnderground Storage Tanks · 1800 ft
- WAHLSTROM DAIRY INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 1800 ft
- DAVID SCHNEIDERUnderground Storage Tanks · 1800 ft
- BOBS MIDLAND SERVICEUnderground Storage Tanks · 1800 ft
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Niagara'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 Niagara.
Total Sites
389
within ~10 miles of Niagara
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
6 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Niagara
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Niagara
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Niagara, Superfund runs higher than the national average — 6 sites within ~10 miles of Niagara. That's not a problem with your land — it's information about it.
Superfund: Superfund sites represent the most severe contamination in the federal system.
Commission professional soil testing before any food production (test for heavy metals, VOCs, and SVOCs).
Check your specific parcel in Niagara
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 Niagara average
Your land is one point inside Niagara
Everything above resolves to Niagara as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 2K 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 Niagara Average
Niagara Average
- ●USDA Zones 4b, averaged across Niagara
- ●One soil character for all of Niagara
- ●Frost dates read at Niagara's scale: May 9 to Oct 8
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Niagara's 4b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Niagara
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Niagara, Wisconsin — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Niagara averages can't show:
We read public map data around Niagara — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Niagara average
How we know this about Niagara
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 Niagara’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 Niagara
When does frost risk typically end in Niagara?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Niagara typically lands around May 9, 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 30.
When is the first frost in Niagara?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Niagara typically arrives around Oct 8, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 24, so the watching starts about Sep 8 — about 152 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Niagara?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Niagara sees about 152 frost-free days — roughly May 9 through Oct 8, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 30 to Sep 24, about 117 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Niagara?
The federal record around Niagara is a meaningful one — 389 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (179), the nearest Brownfields record about 0.2 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 I protect my plants from frost in Niagara?
From about Sep 8 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 8 (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 8. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Niagara's scale — its 4b band and its 152-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Niagara'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 Niagara’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Niagara's own scale — its own ~152-day season between 28°F freezes, the 1,768 acres it covers and 389 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Niagara's own USDA hardiness band, zones 4bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Niagara's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 9 and Oct 8 and the ~152-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 389 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Niagara, the closest Brownfields record about 0.2 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Niagara's boundary and the 1,768 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 4b and a ~152-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Niagara'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 Niagara's 1,768 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Marinette County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Marinette 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 Marinette County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Niagara's 1,768 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Niagara you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,768 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Brownfields record about 0.2 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 Niagara-wide figureread your own land →
More in Wisconsin
Wider growing context
What grows across WisconsinNiagara sits outside our named growing regions, so Wisconsin as a whole is its closest context here.