Weston, Wisconsin, sits in USDA hardiness zone 5a — a band that supports both cool-season staples and warm-season crops chosen to fit the local frost window.
Crops well matched to these conditions include cabbage, cranberry, lavender, and collard greens — though what thrives on any one site still turns on its specific soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Weston, 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 Weston 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 Weston — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Weston — the short answer
Weston, Wisconsin: USDA zone 5a, about 172 days between hard freezes, across 14K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 5a
- 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 15
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~172
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 14K 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 Weston's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Weston's 172-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Weston
Each reading below is measured for Weston itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredWeston runs about 172 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
MeasuredWeston 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 Weston is in
Weston sits in the North Central Hardwood Forests — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Weston's own centroid rather than borrowed from Marathon County.
What Grows in Weston
Every plant below cleared Weston's own zone 5a and its 172-day season. Each card opens that plant's Wisconsin profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Weston?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. 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 15 — 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 Weston
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Weston. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- AMERICAN AUTO PARTS COBrownfields · 0.7 mi
- Cousineau AutoUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- MEYER PETERSON ADJ CO INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- SCHOFIELD COLLISION CENTERBrownfields · 0.8 mi
- Walts Petroleum ServiceUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- CENTRAL WISCONSIN WOODWORKING CORPBrownfields · 0.9 mi
- CENTRAL WISCONSIN ENVIRO LABBrownfields · 0.9 mi
- WESTON VILLAGE OFBrownfields · 0.9 mi
- Village Of WestonUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.0 mi
- INDUSTRIAL REPAIR SERVICEBrownfields · 1.0 mi
- HWY 29 SELF SERVICEUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.0 mi
- CUSTOM GLASS PRODUCTSUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.0 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Weston'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 Weston.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Weston
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Weston
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Weston, Underground Storage Tanks runs higher than the national average — 574 sites within ~10 miles of Weston. It's not cause for alarm — it's worth knowing, and there's a sensible way to grow around it.
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 Weston
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 Weston average
Your land is one point inside Weston
Everything above resolves to Weston as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 14K 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 Weston Average
Weston Average
- ●USDA Zones 5a, averaged across Weston
- ●One soil character for all of Weston
- ●Frost dates read at Weston's scale: Apr 26 to Oct 15
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Weston's 5a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Weston
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Weston, Wisconsin — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Weston averages can't show:
We read public map data around Weston — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Weston average
How we know this about Weston
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 Weston’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 Weston
When does frost risk typically end in Weston?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Weston 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 Weston?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Weston typically arrives around Oct 15, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 1, so the watching starts about Sep 15 — about 172 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Weston?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Weston sees about 172 frost-free days — roughly Apr 26 through Oct 15, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 17 to Oct 1, about 137 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Weston?
The federal record around Weston is a meaningful one — 912 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (574), the nearest Brownfields record about 0.7 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 Weston?
From about Sep 15 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 15 (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 15. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Weston's scale — its 5a band and its 172-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Weston'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 Weston’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Weston's own scale — its own ~172-day season between 28°F freezes, the 13,857 acres it covers and 912 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Weston's own USDA hardiness band, zones 5aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Weston's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 26 and Oct 15 and the ~172-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 912 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Weston, the closest Brownfields record about 0.7 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Weston's boundary and the 13,857 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 5a and a ~172-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Weston'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 Weston's 13,857 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Marathon County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Marathon 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 Marathon County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Weston's 13,857 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Weston you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 13,857 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Brownfields record about 0.7 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 Weston-wide figureread your own land →
More in Wisconsin
Wider growing context
What grows across WisconsinWeston sits outside our named growing regions, so Wisconsin as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides