Stevens Point, Wisconsin, sits in USDA hardiness zone 5a — room for a real mix of vegetables, fruit, and perennials matched to the local frost calendar.
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 Stevens Point, 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 Stevens Point 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 Stevens Point — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Stevens Point — the short answer
Stevens Point, Wisconsin: USDA zone 5a, about 170 days between hard freezes, across 11K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 5a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 29
- 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
- ~170
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- City area
- 11K 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 Stevens Point's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Stevens Point's 170-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Stevens Point
Each reading below is measured for Stevens Point itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredStevens Point runs about 170 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
MeasuredStevens Point 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 Stevens Point is in
Stevens Point sits in the North Central Hardwood Forests — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Stevens Point's own centroid rather than borrowed from Portage County.
What Grows in Stevens Point
Every plant below cleared Stevens Point's own zone 5a and its 170-day season. Each card opens that plant's Wisconsin profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Stevens Point?
Rarely: the season closes in stages, not all at once, and each stage has its crops. Cool-season crops can go in from around Apr 1; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 29 (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. As the window narrows, the plantings just get faster — fall brassicas, then greens, then garlic to finish.
What's on the federal record near Stevens Point
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Stevens Point. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- CARQUEST AUTO PARTS #2311Brownfields · 700 ft
- Midwest Sign CoUnderground Storage Tanks · 750 ft
- SCHIERL TIREUnderground Storage Tanks · 800 ft
- Kwik Trip #342Underground Storage Tanks · 800 ft
- THE STORE #53Underground Storage Tanks · 800 ft
- WALGREENS CO #6935Brownfields · 850 ft
- CESA 5 STEVENS POINTBrownfields · 850 ft
- LASZEWSKI & SONSBrownfields · 900 ft
- LEN DUDAS MOTORS INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 950 ft
- LEN DUDAS MOTORS INCBrownfields · 950 ft
- GUARDIAN ANGEL CEMETERYUnderground Storage Tanks · 1000 ft
- The Store #54Underground Storage Tanks · 1200 ft
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Stevens Point'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 Stevens Point.
Total Sites
631
within ~10 miles of Stevens Point
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
1 Superfund site (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Stevens Point
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Stevens Point
Highest-Severity Sites
Know Before You Grow
- •Underground tanks leak petroleum as they age — near a former filling station, test the soil.
- •On a private well, test for nitrates: above 10 mg/L the water needs treatment before irrigating.
- •Near a brownfield, raised beds of imported soil give your food clean ground.
Check your specific parcel in Stevens Point
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 Stevens Point average
Your land is one point inside Stevens Point
Everything above resolves to Stevens Point as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 11K 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 Stevens Point Average
Stevens Point Average
- ●USDA Zones 5a, averaged across Stevens Point
- ●One soil character for all of Stevens Point
- ●Frost dates read at Stevens Point's scale: Apr 29 to Oct 16
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Stevens Point's 5a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Stevens Point
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Stevens Point, Wisconsin — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Stevens Point averages can't show:
We read public map data around Stevens Point — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Stevens Point average
How we know this about Stevens Point
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 Stevens Point’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 Stevens Point
When does frost risk typically end in Stevens Point?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Stevens Point typically lands around Apr 29, 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 20.
When is the first frost in Stevens Point?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Stevens Point 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 170 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Stevens Point?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Stevens Point sees about 170 frost-free days — roughly Apr 29 through Oct 16, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 20 to Oct 2, about 135 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Stevens Point?
The federal record around Stevens Point is a meaningful one — 631 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (346), the nearest Brownfields 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 I protect my plants from frost in Stevens Point?
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 Stevens Point's scale — its 5a band and its 170-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Stevens Point'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 Stevens Point’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Stevens Point's own scale — its own ~170-day season between 28°F freezes, the 11,074 acres it covers and 631 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Stevens Point's own USDA hardiness band, zones 5aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Stevens Point's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 29 and Oct 16 and the ~170-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 631 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Stevens Point, the closest Brownfields record about 0.1 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Stevens Point's boundary and the 11,074 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 5a and a ~170-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Stevens Point'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 Stevens Point's 11,074 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 Stevens Point's 11,074 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Stevens Point you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 11,074 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Brownfields 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 Stevens Point-wide figureread your own land →