Tigerton, Wisconsin, sits in USDA hardiness zone 5a — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
Well-matched crops include cabbage, cranberry, lavender, and collard greens, and the gap between "grows in the area" and "grows in your yard" is closed by soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Tigerton, 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 Tigerton 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 Tigerton — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Tigerton — the short answer
Tigerton, Wisconsin: USDA zone 5a, about 163 days between hard freezes, across 1K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 5a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 2
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 12
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~163
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 1K 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 Tigerton's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Tigerton's 163-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Tigerton
Each reading below is measured for Tigerton itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredTigerton runs about 163 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
MeasuredTigerton 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 Tigerton is in
Tigerton sits in the North Central Hardwood Forests — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Tigerton's own centroid rather than borrowed from Shawano County.
What Grows in Tigerton
Every plant below cleared Tigerton's own zone 5a and its 163-day season. Each card opens that plant's Wisconsin profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Tigerton?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. Cool-season crops can go in from around Apr 4; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 2 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 12 — 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 Tigerton
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Tigerton. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- SCHROEDER OILUnderground Storage Tanks · 2300 ft
- Riiser Fuels LLC - R-Store #20Underground Storage Tanks · 2300 ft
- Sambs Forest ProductsUnderground Storage Tanks · 2300 ft
- SH-26/12E/16-0212Nitrate · 2600 ft
- TIGERTON WWTF UPGRADE DEWATERINGBrownfields · 0.5 mi
- Laverne StoffelUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- DAVID NERO CONSTRUCTIONUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- David A Nero ConstructionUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- THEDA CARE PHYSICIANS TIGERTONBrownfields · 0.7 mi
- Tigerton Lumber CoUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- VIRGINIA KRIEGELUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- TIGERTON DRAY LINEUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Tigerton'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 Tigerton.
Total Sites
217
within ~10 miles of Tigerton
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
4 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Tigerton
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Tigerton
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Tigerton, Underground Storage Tanks runs higher than the national average — 180 sites within ~10 miles of Tigerton. Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
Underground Storage Tanks: Underground storage tanks are the single most common source of soil contamination near homes and gardens.
Use raised beds with imported soil — this eliminates the primary soil-contact pathway.
Check your specific parcel in Tigerton
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 Tigerton average
Your land is one point inside Tigerton
Everything above resolves to Tigerton as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 1K 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 Tigerton Average
Tigerton Average
- ●USDA Zones 5a, averaged across Tigerton
- ●One soil character for all of Tigerton
- ●Frost dates read at Tigerton's scale: May 2 to Oct 12
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Tigerton's 5a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Tigerton
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Tigerton, Wisconsin — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Tigerton averages can't show:
We read public map data around Tigerton — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Tigerton average
How we know this about Tigerton
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 Tigerton’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 Tigerton
When does frost risk typically end in Tigerton?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Tigerton typically lands around May 2, 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 23.
When is the first frost in Tigerton?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Tigerton typically arrives around Oct 12, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 28, so the watching starts about Sep 12 — about 163 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Tigerton?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Tigerton sees about 163 frost-free days — roughly May 2 through Oct 12, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 23 to Sep 28, about 128 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Tigerton?
The federal record around Tigerton is a meaningful one — 217 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (180), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.4 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 Tigerton?
From about Sep 12 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 12 (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 12. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Tigerton's scale — its 5a band and its 163-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Tigerton'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 Tigerton’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Tigerton's own scale — its own ~163-day season between 28°F freezes, the 1,167 acres it covers and 217 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Tigerton's own USDA hardiness band, zones 5aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Tigerton's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 2 and Oct 12 and the ~163-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 217 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Tigerton, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.4 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Tigerton's boundary and the 1,167 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 5a and a ~163-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Tigerton'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 Tigerton's 1,167 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Shawano County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Shawano 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 Shawano County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Tigerton's 1,167 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Tigerton you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,167 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.4 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 Tigerton-wide figureread your own land →
More in Wisconsin
Wider growing context
What grows across WisconsinTigerton sits outside our named growing regions, so Wisconsin as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides