Whittlesey, Wisconsin, sits in USDA hardiness zone 4a — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
Reliable performers under these conditions include cabbage, cranberry, turkish rocket, and collard greens; what your own ground favors still comes down to its soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Whittlesey, 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 Whittlesey 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 Whittlesey — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Whittlesey — the short answer
Whittlesey, Wisconsin: USDA zone 4a, about 157 days between hard freezes, across 721 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 4a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 4
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 8
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~157
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 721 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 4a is Whittlesey's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Whittlesey's 157-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Whittlesey
Each reading below is measured for Whittlesey itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredWhittlesey runs about 157 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
MeasuredWhittlesey sits in USDA hardiness zone 4a.
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 Whittlesey is in
Whittlesey sits in the Northern Lakes and Forests — EPA Level III, inside the wider Northern Forests. That is read at Whittlesey's own centroid rather than borrowed from Taylor County.
What Grows in Whittlesey
Every plant below cleared Whittlesey's own zone 4a and its 157-day season. Each card opens that plant's Wisconsin profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Whittlesey?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. Cool-season crops can go in from around Apr 6; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 4 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 8 — 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 Whittlesey
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Whittlesey. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- SPORTSMAN BARUnderground Storage Tanks · 2600 ft
- ARNOLD H DASSOWUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.0 mi
- MARK S TLUSTYUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.1 mi
- HENRY KRAWMERUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.4 mi
- TA-32/01E/24-0226Nitrate · 1.5 mi
- LESTER BUEHLERUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.7 mi
- K & W AUTO SALES INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.0 mi
- RONALD DASSOWUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.3 mi
- George HaenelUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.8 mi
- GOESSL CONSTRUCTION INCUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.0 mi
- RINEHART REPAIRBrownfields · 3.0 mi
- ROSS-WELLS MEDFORDUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.2 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Whittlesey'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 Whittlesey.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Whittlesey
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Whittlesey
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Whittlesey, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Whittlesey — Superfund (3 sites) and Underground Storage Tanks (146 sites). That's not a problem with your land — it's information about it.
Superfund: Superfund sites represent the most severe contamination in the federal system.
Underground Storage Tanks: Underground storage tanks are the single most common source of soil contamination near homes and gardens.
Commission professional soil testing before any food production (test for heavy metals, VOCs, and SVOCs).
Use raised beds with imported soil — this eliminates the primary soil-contact pathway.
Check your specific parcel in Whittlesey
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 Whittlesey average
Your land is one point inside Whittlesey
Everything above resolves to Whittlesey as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 721 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 Whittlesey Average
Whittlesey Average
- ●USDA Zones 4a, averaged across Whittlesey
- ●One soil character for all of Whittlesey
- ●Frost dates read at Whittlesey's scale: May 4 to Oct 8
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Whittlesey's 4a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Whittlesey
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Whittlesey, Wisconsin — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Whittlesey averages can't show:
We read public map data around Whittlesey — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Whittlesey average
How we know this about Whittlesey
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 Whittlesey’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 Whittlesey
When does frost risk typically end in Whittlesey?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Whittlesey typically lands around May 4, 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 25.
When is the first frost in Whittlesey?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Whittlesey typically arrives around Oct 8, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 24, so the watching starts about Sep 8 — about 157 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Whittlesey?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Whittlesey sees about 157 frost-free days — roughly May 4 through Oct 8, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 25 to Sep 24, about 122 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Whittlesey?
The federal record around Whittlesey is a meaningful one — 200 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (146), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.5 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 Whittlesey?
From about Sep 8 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 8 (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 8. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Whittlesey's scale — its 4a band and its 157-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Whittlesey'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 Whittlesey’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Whittlesey's own scale — its own ~157-day season between 28°F freezes, the 721 acres it covers and 200 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Whittlesey's own USDA hardiness band, zones 4aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Whittlesey's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 4 and Oct 8 and the ~157-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 200 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Whittlesey, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.5 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Whittlesey's boundary and the 721 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 4a and a ~157-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Whittlesey's own centroid, the Northern Lakes and ForestsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Whittlesey's 721 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Taylor County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Taylor 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 Taylor County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Whittlesey's 721 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Whittlesey you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 721 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.5 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 Whittlesey-wide figureread your own land →
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