Plover, Wisconsin, sits in USDA hardiness zone 5a — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
Crops well matched to these conditions include cabbage, cranberry, lavender, and collard greens — though what thrives on any one site still turns on its specific soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Plover, 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 Plover 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 Plover — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Plover — the short answer
Plover, Wisconsin: USDA zone 5a, about 169 days between hard freezes, across 7K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 5a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 28
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 14
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~169
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 7K 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 Plover's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Plover's 169-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Plover
Each reading below is measured for Plover itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredPlover runs about 169 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
MeasuredPlover 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 Plover is in
Plover sits in the North Central Hardwood Forests — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Plover's own centroid rather than borrowed from Portage County.
What Grows in Plover
Every plant below cleared Plover's own zone 5a and its 169-day season. Each card opens that plant's Wisconsin profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Plover?
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 31; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 28 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 14 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. Even past midsummer there is room for a true fall garden here, and garlic planted near the close carries the momentum into next year.
What's on the federal record near Plover
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Plover. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- VERIZON NORTH INC PORTAGE GARBrownfields · 1300 ft
- FuelmaxUnderground Storage Tanks · 1400 ft
- Plover Tire & ServiceUnderground Storage Tanks · 1400 ft
- WDOT - POST RD - 6414-00-08Underground Storage Tanks · 1500 ft
- VILLAGE OF PLOVER MUNICIPAL GARAGEUnderground Storage Tanks · 1500 ft
- WISCONSIN RIBSTONE SILO INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 1800 ft
- PUMP & PEDALUnderground Storage Tanks · 2000 ft
- FAHRNER ASPHALT SEALERS LLC- PLOVER SITEToxics Release Inventory · 2000 ft
- FAHRNER ASPHALT SEALERS LLC- PLOVER SITEBrownfields · 2000 ft
- FAHRNER ASPHALT SEALERS INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 2100 ft
- DAN SENTZUnderground Storage Tanks · 2200 ft
- WDOT 6414-00-78 - FORMER TEXACO STATIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 2400 ft
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Plover'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 Plover.
Total Sites
578
within ~10 miles of Plover
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
1 Superfund site (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Plover
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Plover
Highest-Severity Sites
Know Before You Grow
- •Underground tanks leak petroleum as they age — near a former filling station, test the soil.
- •Near a brownfield, raised beds of imported soil give your food clean ground.
- •On a private well, test for nitrates: above 10 mg/L the water needs treatment before irrigating.
Check your specific parcel in Plover
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 Plover average
Your land is one point inside Plover
Everything above resolves to Plover as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 7K 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 Plover Average
Plover Average
- ●USDA Zones 5a, averaged across Plover
- ●One soil character for all of Plover
- ●Frost dates read at Plover's scale: Apr 28 to Oct 14
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Plover's 5a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Plover
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Plover, Wisconsin — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Plover averages can't show:
We read public map data around Plover — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Plover average
How we know this about Plover
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 Plover’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 Plover
When does frost risk typically end in Plover?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Plover typically lands around Apr 28, 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 19.
When is the first frost in Plover?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Plover typically arrives around Oct 14, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 30, so the watching starts about Sep 14 — about 169 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Plover?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Plover sees about 169 frost-free days — roughly Apr 28 through Oct 14, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 19 to Sep 30, about 134 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Plover?
The federal record around Plover is a meaningful one — 578 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (344), 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 Plover?
From about Sep 14 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 14 (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 14. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Plover's scale — its 5a band and its 169-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Plover'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 Plover’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Plover's own scale — its own ~169-day season between 28°F freezes, the 6,810 acres it covers and 578 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Plover's own USDA hardiness band, zones 5aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Plover's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 28 and Oct 14 and the ~169-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 578 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Plover, the closest Brownfields record about 0.2 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Plover's boundary and the 6,810 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 5a and a ~169-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Plover'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 Plover's 6,810 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Portage County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Portage 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 Portage County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Plover's 6,810 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Plover you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 6,810 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 Plover-wide figureread your own land →