Taylor, 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.
On paper, cabbage, cranberry, turkish rocket, and collard greens all suit these conditions — on the ground, soil, sun, and drainage make the final call.
Even in Taylor, 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 Taylor 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 Taylor — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Taylor — the short answer
Taylor, Wisconsin: USDA zone 4b, about 152 days between hard freezes, across 467 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 4b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 5
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 4
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~152
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 467 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 Taylor's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Taylor's 152-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Taylor
Each reading below is measured for Taylor itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredTaylor runs about 152 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
MeasuredTaylor 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 Taylor is in
Taylor sits in the Driftless Area — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Taylor's own centroid rather than borrowed from Jackson County.
What Grows in Taylor
Every plant below cleared Taylor's own zone 4b and its 152-day season. Each card opens that plant's Wisconsin profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Taylor?
For most of the year, no — what changes is which crops still fit the days remaining. Cool-season crops can go in from around Apr 7; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 5 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 4 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. The tail of the season still works: sixty-day crops into late summer, quick greens after, garlic last of all.
What's on the federal record near Taylor
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Taylor. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- JA-21/06W/04-0032Nitrate · 100 ft
- FORMERLY TAYLOR FULL SERVICEUnderground Storage Tanks · 600 ft
- Taylor High SchoolUnderground Storage Tanks · 600 ft
- NFO TAYLOR RECEIVING STATIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 750 ft
- WILLMAN INDUSTRIESUnderground Storage Tanks · 800 ft
- Taylor General Store & CafeUnderground Storage Tanks · 1100 ft
- TOWN OF SPRINGFIELD GARAGEUnderground Storage Tanks · 1200 ft
- Taylor Corner StoreUnderground Storage Tanks · 1200 ft
- Pes Farm SupplyUnderground Storage Tanks · 1200 ft
- JAMES FULLINGTONUnderground Storage Tanks · 1200 ft
- JASON C OLSON FARMUnderground Storage Tanks · 1200 ft
- Lois KrogstadUnderground Storage Tanks · 1200 ft
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Taylor'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 Taylor.
Total Sites
125
within ~10 miles of Taylor
Risk Level
Moderate
Highest-severity
2 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Taylor
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Taylor
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Taylor, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Taylor — CAFO (3 sites) and Underground Storage Tanks (94 sites). Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
CAFO: CAFOs pose a different contamination profile than chemical sources.
Underground Storage Tanks: Underground storage tanks are the single most common source of soil contamination near homes and gardens.
Wash all produce consumed raw thoroughly, especially leafy greens grown near CAFOs.
Use raised beds with imported soil — this eliminates the primary soil-contact pathway.
Check your specific parcel in Taylor
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 Taylor average
Your land is one point inside Taylor
Everything above resolves to Taylor as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 467 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 Taylor Average
Taylor Average
- ●USDA Zones 4b, averaged across Taylor
- ●One soil character for all of Taylor
- ●Frost dates read at Taylor's scale: May 5 to Oct 4
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Taylor's 4b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Taylor
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Taylor, Wisconsin — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Taylor averages can't show:
We read public map data around Taylor — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Taylor average
How we know this about Taylor
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 Taylor’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 Taylor
When does frost risk typically end in Taylor?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Taylor typically lands around May 5, 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 26.
When is the first frost in Taylor?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Taylor typically arrives around Oct 4, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 20, so the watching starts about Sep 4 — about 152 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Taylor?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Taylor sees about 152 frost-free days — roughly May 5 through Oct 4, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 26 to Sep 20, about 117 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Taylor?
The federal record around Taylor shows 125 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (94), the nearest Nitrate record under a tenth of a mile out — a typical footprint for a growing area, and proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard. It's worth seeing which recorded sites sit closest to where you grow, and testing the soil before new food beds near any of them.
How do I protect my plants from frost in Taylor?
From about Sep 4 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 4 (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 4. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Taylor's scale — its 4b band and its 152-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Taylor'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 Taylor’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Taylor's own scale — its own ~152-day season between 28°F freezes, the 467 acres it covers and 125 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Taylor's own USDA hardiness band, zones 4bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Taylor's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 5 and Oct 4 and the ~152-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 125 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Taylor, the closest Nitrate record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Taylor's boundary and the 467 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 4b and a ~152-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Taylor's own centroid, the Driftless AreaUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Taylor's 467 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Jackson County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Jackson 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 Jackson County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Taylor's 467 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Taylor you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 467 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Nitrate 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 Taylor-wide figureread your own land →
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