Waupun, Wisconsin, sits in USDA hardiness zone 5a — room for a real mix of vegetables, fruit, and perennials matched to the local frost calendar.
A short list that earns its place here — cabbage, cranberry, lavender, and collard greens — with any one site's soil, sun, and drainage making the final cut.
Even in Waupun, 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 Waupun 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 Waupun — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Waupun — the short answer
Waupun, Wisconsin: USDA zone 5a, about 190 days between hard freezes, across 3K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 5a
- 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
- City area
- 3K 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 Waupun's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Waupun's 190-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Waupun
Each reading below is measured for Waupun itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredWaupun 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
MeasuredWaupun 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 Waupun is in
Waupun sits in the Southeastern Wisconsin Till Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Waupun's own centroid rather than borrowed from Dodge County.
What Grows in Waupun
Every plant below cleared Waupun's own zone 5a and its 190-day season. Each card opens that plant's Wisconsin profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Waupun?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. 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. Even past midsummer there is room for a true fall garden here, and garlic planted near the close carries the momentum into next year.
Documented around Waupun
Spotted lanternfly documented 16 miles from Waupun, first recorded 2023. What to watch for.
What's on the federal record near Waupun
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Waupun. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- MCDOWELL STANDARD SERVICEUnderground Storage Tanks · 650 ft
- NUMMERDOR BROS INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 750 ft
- National Rivet & Mfg CoUnderground Storage Tanks · 950 ft
- NATIONAL RIVET & MANUFACTURING COMPANYBrownfields · 950 ft
- NATIONAL RIVET & MANUFACTURING COMPANYToxics Release Inventory · 950 ft
- Waupun Safety BuildingUnderground Storage Tanks · 1100 ft
- FARMERS ELEVATOR COUnderground Storage Tanks · 1100 ft
- WAUPUN CORRECTIONAL INSTPFAS · 1200 ft
- WAUPUN UTILITIESPFAS · 1200 ft
- Bentz Shell Service IncUnderground Storage Tanks · 1200 ft
- Wesley NavisUnderground Storage Tanks · 1200 ft
- CLARENCE KUIPER TRUCKINGUnderground Storage Tanks · 1200 ft
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Waupun'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 Waupun.
Total Sites
250
within ~10 miles of Waupun
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
9 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Waupun
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Waupun
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Waupun, CAFO runs higher than the national average — 3 sites within ~10 miles of Waupun. 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 Waupun
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 Waupun average
Your land is one point inside Waupun
Everything above resolves to Waupun as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 3K 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 Waupun Average
Waupun Average
- ●USDA Zones 5a, averaged across Waupun
- ●One soil character for all of Waupun
- ●Frost dates read at Waupun's scale: Apr 14 to Oct 21
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Waupun's 5a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Waupun
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Waupun, Wisconsin — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Waupun averages can't show:
We read public map data around Waupun — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Waupun average
How we know this about Waupun
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 Waupun’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 Waupun
When does frost risk typically end in Waupun?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Waupun 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 Waupun?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Waupun 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 Waupun?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Waupun 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 Waupun?
The federal record around Waupun is a meaningful one — 250 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (152), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks 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 Waupun?
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 Waupun's scale — its 5a band and its 190-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Waupun'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 Waupun’s own scale
7 of the readings below were taken at Waupun's own scale — its own ~190-day season between 28°F freezes, the 2,989 acres it covers and 250 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Waupun's own USDA hardiness band, zones 5aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Waupun's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 14 and Oct 21 and the ~190-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 250 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Waupun, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.1 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Waupun's boundary and the 2,989 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 5a and a ~190-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Waupun's own centroid, the Southeastern Wisconsin Till PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- A documented spotted-lanternfly record within reach of Waupunlydemapr (De Bona & Helmus), 10 km survey lattice
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Waupun's 2,989 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Dodge County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Dodge 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 Dodge County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Waupun's 2,989 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Waupun you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 2,989 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks 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 Waupun-wide figureread your own land →
More in Wisconsin
Wider growing context
What grows across WisconsinWaupun sits outside our named growing regions, so Wisconsin as a whole is its closest context here.