Rhinelander, 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.
Expect cabbage, cranberry, cilantro, and collard greens to be strong candidates here; the deciding factors on any one parcel stay local — soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Rhinelander, 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 Rhinelander 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 Rhinelander — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Rhinelander — the short answer
Rhinelander, Wisconsin: USDA zone 4b, about 146 days between hard freezes, across 6K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 4b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 10
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 3
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~146
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- City area
- 6K 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 Rhinelander's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Rhinelander's 146-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Rhinelander
Each reading below is measured for Rhinelander itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredRhinelander runs about 146 days between hard freezes — a short growing season.
Long-maturing crops like melons, sweet potatoes, and winter squash can run out of runway before the first hard freeze, ripening late or not at all.
Lead with fast-maturing varieties, and stretch the season on both ends with cold frames, low tunnels, or a greenhouse.
NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Winter hardiness
MeasuredRhinelander 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 Rhinelander is in
Rhinelander sits in the Northern Lakes and Forests — EPA Level III, inside the wider Northern Forests. That is read at Rhinelander's own centroid rather than borrowed from Oneida County.
What Grows in Rhinelander
Every plant below cleared Rhinelander's own zone 4b and its 146-day season. Each card opens that plant's Wisconsin profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Rhinelander?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. Cool-season crops can go in from around Apr 12; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 10 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 3 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. In a season this compact, fast finishers and cold-hardy greens do the late work, and garlic tucked in before the freeze repays you next summer.
What's on the federal record near Rhinelander
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Rhinelander. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- Ico Rhinelander #138Underground Storage Tanks · 750 ft
- Birginal Motors IncUnderground Storage Tanks · 850 ft
- Kemp St MartUnderground Storage Tanks · 1300 ft
- Oneida County Hwy DeptUnderground Storage Tanks · 1700 ft
- WEST SIDE MOBILUnderground Storage Tanks · 1800 ft
- BARDENS BUILDERS INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 1800 ft
- Musson Bros IncUnderground Storage Tanks · 2200 ft
- Rhinelander WwtpUnderground Storage Tanks · 2300 ft
- CITY OF RHINELANDERUnderground Storage Tanks · 2300 ft
- SHIMKUS AUTO BODYBrownfields · 0.5 mi
- Expera Rhinelander LLCUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- RHINELANDER PAPER COUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Rhinelander'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 Rhinelander.
Total Sites
275
within ~10 miles of Rhinelander
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
4 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Rhinelander
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Rhinelander
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Rhinelander, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Rhinelander — Superfund (4 sites) and Underground Storage Tanks (192 sites). Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
Superfund: Superfund sites represent the most severe contamination in the federal system.
Underground Storage Tanks: Underground storage tanks are the single most common source of soil contamination near homes and gardens.
Commission professional soil testing before any food production (test for heavy metals, VOCs, and SVOCs).
Use raised beds with imported soil — this eliminates the primary soil-contact pathway.
Check your specific parcel in Rhinelander
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 Rhinelander average
Your land is one point inside Rhinelander
Everything above resolves to Rhinelander as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 6K 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 Rhinelander Average
Rhinelander Average
- ●USDA Zones 4b, averaged across Rhinelander
- ●One soil character for all of Rhinelander
- ●Frost dates read at Rhinelander's scale: May 10 to Oct 3
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Rhinelander's 4b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Rhinelander
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Rhinelander, Wisconsin — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Rhinelander averages can't show:
We read public map data around Rhinelander — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Rhinelander average
How we know this about Rhinelander
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 Rhinelander’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 Rhinelander
When does frost risk typically end in Rhinelander?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Rhinelander typically lands around May 10, 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 31.
When is the first frost in Rhinelander?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Rhinelander typically arrives around Oct 3, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 19, so the watching starts about Sep 3 — about 146 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Rhinelander?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Rhinelander sees about 146 frost-free days — roughly May 10 through Oct 3, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 31 to Sep 19, about 111 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Rhinelander?
The federal record around Rhinelander is a meaningful one — 275 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (192), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.1 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 gardeners stretch the season in Rhinelander?
With about 146 frost-free days between hard freezes, Rhinelander rewards the classic extension moves: floating row cover buys roughly two to four extra weeks at each shoulder — on this season that is a working window nearer 174 to 202 days — and cold frames or low tunnels buy more. Starting transplants indoors ahead of the May 10 hard-freeze normal stretches the season without touching the calendar.
Everything above is measured at Rhinelander's scale — its 4b band and its 146-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Rhinelander'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 Rhinelander’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Rhinelander's own scale — its own ~146-day season between 28°F freezes, the 5,829 acres it covers and 275 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Rhinelander's own USDA hardiness band, zones 4bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Rhinelander's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 10 and Oct 3 and the ~146-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 275 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Rhinelander, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.1 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Rhinelander's boundary and the 5,829 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 4b and a ~146-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Rhinelander'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 Rhinelander's 5,829 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Oneida County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Oneida 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 Oneida County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Rhinelander's 5,829 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Rhinelander you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 5,829 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.1 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 Rhinelander-wide figureread your own land →