Rudolph, Wisconsin, sits in USDA hardiness zone 4b — room for a real mix of vegetables, fruit, and perennials matched to the local frost calendar.
Crops well matched to these conditions include cabbage, cranberry, turkish rocket, and collard greens — though what thrives on any one site still turns on its specific soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Rudolph, 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 Rudolph 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 Rudolph — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Rudolph — the short answer
Rudolph, Wisconsin: USDA zone 4b, about 173 days between hard freezes, across 771 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 4b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 26
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 16
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~173
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 771 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 Rudolph's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Rudolph's 173-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Rudolph
Each reading below is measured for Rudolph itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredRudolph runs about 173 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
MeasuredRudolph 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 Rudolph is in
Rudolph sits in the North Central Hardwood Forests — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Rudolph's own centroid rather than borrowed from Wood County.
What Grows in Rudolph
Every plant below cleared Rudolph's own zone 4b and its 173-day season. Each card opens that plant's Wisconsin profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Rudolph?
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 29; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 26 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 16 — 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 Rudolph
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Rudolph. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- MARION ZAKUnderground Storage Tanks · 100 ft
- COXS MARKETUnderground Storage Tanks · 400 ft
- BADGER STATE FEED COUnderground Storage Tanks · 450 ft
- SAFE WAY BUS TRANSIT INCBrownfields · 450 ft
- SAFE WAY BUS TRANSIT INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 500 ft
- RUDOLPH VOLUNTEER FIRE DEPTUnderground Storage Tanks · 500 ft
- TOSCH MOTORSUnderground Storage Tanks · 950 ft
- 34 TRUCK & AUTO INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 1600 ft
- Downings ShellUnderground Storage Tanks · 1700 ft
- WISCONSIN DAIRY STATE CHEESE COUnderground Storage Tanks · 1800 ft
- Riiser Fuels LLC - R-Store #42 RudolphUnderground Storage Tanks · 2200 ft
- DOLLAR GENERAL STORE #25089Brownfields · 0.7 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Rudolph'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 Rudolph.
Total Sites
506
within ~10 miles of Rudolph
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
21 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Rudolph
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Rudolph
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 Rudolph
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 Rudolph average
Your land is one point inside Rudolph
Everything above resolves to Rudolph as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 771 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 Rudolph Average
Rudolph Average
- ●USDA Zones 4b, averaged across Rudolph
- ●One soil character for all of Rudolph
- ●Frost dates read at Rudolph's scale: Apr 26 to Oct 16
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Rudolph's 4b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Rudolph
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Rudolph, Wisconsin — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Rudolph averages can't show:
We read public map data around Rudolph — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Rudolph average
How we know this about Rudolph
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 Rudolph’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 Rudolph
When does frost risk typically end in Rudolph?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Rudolph typically lands around Apr 26, 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 17.
When is the first frost in Rudolph?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Rudolph typically arrives around Oct 16, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 2, so the watching starts about Sep 16 — about 173 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Rudolph?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Rudolph sees about 173 frost-free days — roughly Apr 26 through Oct 16, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 17 to Oct 2, about 138 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Rudolph?
The federal record around Rudolph is a meaningful one — 506 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (285), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile 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 Rudolph?
From about Sep 16 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 16 (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 16. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Rudolph's scale — its 4b band and its 173-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Rudolph'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 Rudolph’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Rudolph's own scale — its own ~173-day season between 28°F freezes, the 771 acres it covers and 506 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Rudolph's own USDA hardiness band, zones 4bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Rudolph's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 26 and Oct 16 and the ~173-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 506 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Rudolph, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Rudolph's boundary and the 771 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 4b and a ~173-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Rudolph'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 Rudolph's 771 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Wood County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Wood 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 Wood County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Rudolph's 771 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Rudolph you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 771 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile 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 Rudolph-wide figureread your own land →