Prescott, Wisconsin, sits in USDA hardiness zone 5a — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
Reliable performers under these conditions include cabbage, cranberry, lavender, and collard greens; what your own ground favors still comes down to its soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Prescott, 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 Prescott 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 Prescott — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Prescott — the short answer
Prescott, Wisconsin: USDA zone 5a, about 193 days between hard freezes, across 2K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 5a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 13
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 23
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~193
- 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 5a is Prescott's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Prescott's 193-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Prescott
Each reading below is measured for Prescott itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredPrescott runs about 193 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
MeasuredPrescott 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 Prescott is in
Prescott sits in the Western Corn Belt Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Great Plains. That is read at Prescott's own centroid, and it is not what its county reads: Pierce County is mostly Driftless Area. The wider page above you is answering a different question about different ground.
What Grows in Prescott
Every plant below cleared Prescott's own zone 5a and its 193-day season. Each card opens that plant's Wisconsin profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Prescott?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 16; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 13 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 23 — 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 Prescott
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Prescott. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- PRESCOTT HIGH SCHOOLBrownfields · 1100 ft
- School District Of PrescottUnderground Storage Tanks · 1200 ft
- CITY OF PRESCOTT FIRE HALLUnderground Storage Tanks · 1400 ft
- PI-26/20W/10-0007Nitrate · 1400 ft
- CITY OF PRESCOTTUnderground Storage Tanks · 2100 ft
- PI-26/20W/10-0075Nitrate · 2300 ft
- Churchill MarketUnderground Storage Tanks · 2400 ft
- JACQUES SEED COBrownfields · 2600 ft
- CERNOHOUS CHEVROLET INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- CERNOHOUS CHEVROLET INCBrownfields · 0.5 mi
- STRIP CITYBrownfields · 0.5 mi
- DOLLAR GENERAL STORE #16734Brownfields · 0.5 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Prescott'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 Prescott.
Total Sites
562
within ~10 miles of Prescott
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
2 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Prescott
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Prescott
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Prescott, Brownfields runs higher than the national average — 285 sites within ~10 miles of Prescott. It's not cause for alarm — it's worth knowing, and there's a sensible way to grow around it.
Brownfields: Brownfield sites are former commercial or industrial properties where legacy soil contamination (heavy metals, PAHs, petroleum compounds) may persist.
Check EPA brownfield remediation status — many sites have completed cleanup with institutional controls.
Check your specific parcel in Prescott
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 Prescott average
Your land is one point inside Prescott
Everything above resolves to Prescott 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 Prescott Average
Prescott Average
- ●USDA Zones 5a, averaged across Prescott
- ●One soil character for all of Prescott
- ●Frost dates read at Prescott's scale: Apr 13 to Oct 23
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Prescott's 5a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Prescott
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Prescott, Wisconsin — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Prescott averages can't show:
We read public map data around Prescott — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Prescott average
How we know this about Prescott
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 Prescott’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 Prescott
When does frost risk typically end in Prescott?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Prescott typically lands around Apr 13, 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 4.
When is the first frost in Prescott?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Prescott typically arrives around Oct 23, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 9, so the watching starts about Sep 23 — about 193 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Prescott?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Prescott sees about 193 frost-free days — roughly Apr 13 through Oct 23, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 4 to Oct 9, about 158 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Prescott?
The federal record around Prescott is a meaningful one — 562 documented sites, mostly Brownfields entries (285), 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 Prescott?
From about Sep 23 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 23 (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 23. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Prescott's scale — its 5a band and its 193-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Prescott'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 Prescott’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Prescott's own scale — its own ~193-day season between 28°F freezes, the 1,814 acres it covers and 562 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Prescott's own USDA hardiness band, zones 5aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Prescott's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 13 and Oct 23 and the ~193-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 562 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Prescott, the closest Brownfields record about 0.2 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Prescott's boundary and the 1,814 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 5a and a ~193-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- Prescott sits in the Western Corn Belt Plains — not the ecoregion its county mostly readsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Prescott's 1,814 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Pierce County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Pierce 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 Pierce County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Prescott's 1,814 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Prescott you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,814 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 Prescott-wide figureread your own land →
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