Rome, Wisconsin, sits in USDA hardiness zone 5b — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
The conditions favor cabbage, cranberry, lavender, and collard greens, among others — though every individual site edits that list with its own soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Rome, 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 Rome 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 Rome — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Rome — the short answer
Rome, Wisconsin: USDA zone 5b, about 190 days between hard freezes, across 2K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 5b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 14
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 21
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~190
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town 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 5b is Rome's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Rome's 190-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Rome
Each reading below is measured for Rome itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredRome runs about 190 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
MeasuredRome sits in USDA hardiness zone 5b.
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 Rome is in
Rome sits in the Southeastern Wisconsin Till Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Rome's own centroid rather than borrowed from Jefferson County.
What Grows in Rome
Every plant below cleared Rome's own zone 5b and its 190-day season. Each card opens that plant's Wisconsin profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Rome?
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 17; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 14 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 21 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. Late in the year the fall bench takes over — quick greens, radishes, and garlic that repays you next summer.
What's on the federal record near Rome
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Rome. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- JE-06/16E/18-0242Nitrate · 0.6 mi
- Town Of SullivanUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.9 mi
- RICHARD WILLIAMSUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.0 mi
- Rome Fire DeptUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.1 mi
- RICHARD FLEESUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.2 mi
- DEAN KINCAID INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.6 mi
- EDGEWATER RESORTUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.6 mi
- FAA RCLR BD8Underground Storage Tanks · 1.6 mi
- JOHN J WORTHERYUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.6 mi
- Earl A ThornUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.7 mi
- JE-06/16E/20-0243Nitrate · 1.8 mi
- UNIVERSAL ELECTRONICS INCToxics Release Inventory · 2.4 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Rome'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 Rome.
Total Sites
337
within ~10 miles of Rome
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
3 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Rome
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Rome
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Rome, CAFO runs higher than the national average — 4 sites within ~10 miles of Rome. It's not cause for alarm — it's worth knowing, and there's a sensible way to grow around it.
CAFO: CAFOs pose a different contamination profile than chemical sources.
Wash all produce consumed raw thoroughly, especially leafy greens grown near CAFOs.
Check your specific parcel in Rome
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 Rome average
Your land is one point inside Rome
Everything above resolves to Rome 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 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 Rome Average
Rome Average
- ●USDA Zones 5b, averaged across Rome
- ●One soil character for all of Rome
- ●Frost dates read at Rome's scale: Apr 14 to Oct 21
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Rome's 5b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Rome
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Rome, Wisconsin — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Rome averages can't show:
We read public map data around Rome — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Rome average
How we know this about Rome
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 Rome’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 Rome
When does frost risk typically end in Rome?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Rome typically lands around Apr 14, 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 5.
When is the first frost in Rome?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Rome typically arrives around Oct 21, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 7, so the watching starts about Sep 21 — about 190 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Rome?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Rome sees about 190 frost-free days — roughly Apr 14 through Oct 21, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 5 to Oct 7, about 155 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Rome?
The federal record around Rome is a meaningful one — 337 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (193), the nearest Nitrate record about 0.6 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 Rome?
From about Sep 21 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 21 (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 21. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Rome's scale — its 5b band and its 190-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Rome'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 Rome’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Rome's own scale — its own ~190-day season between 28°F freezes, the 2,373 acres it covers and 337 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Rome's own USDA hardiness band, zones 5bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Rome's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 14 and Oct 21 and the ~190-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 337 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Rome, the closest Nitrate record about 0.6 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Rome's boundary and the 2,373 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 5b and a ~190-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Rome's own centroid, the Southeastern Wisconsin Till PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Rome's 2,373 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Jefferson County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Jefferson 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 Jefferson County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Rome's 2,373 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Rome you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 2,373 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Nitrate record about 0.6 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 Rome-wide figureread your own land →
More in Wisconsin
Wider growing context
What grows across WisconsinRome sits outside our named growing regions, so Wisconsin as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides