Fruit Trees for Medford, Abbotsford and Colby, Wisconsin

On January 30, 1951, NOAA's station a mile east of Owen read −42°F while Medford, about 16 miles northeast and some 230 feet higher, read −32°F. That's a 10°F split in country most people would call flat, and it's what growing fruit trees for Medford, Abbotsford and Colby comes down to: the land barely rises or falls, but where the cold settles on a still night decides what lives and what bears. This map covers north central Wisconsin along Highway 13, from Medford and Whittlesey in Taylor County south through Stetsonville, Dorchester, Abbotsford, Colby and Unity, west to Curtiss, Owen and Withee in Clark County, and east into western Marathon County.

Type your address in the box on the map to get the number for your own place, and the list of what we sell that has come through it.

How to read this map

The big number is the 30-year planning low, the same number our cold hardiness calculator uses (built from NOAA station records since the 1995-96 winter), with a small nudge for the ground right around you. It's a safe number to plan around, not the record or a promise of how often it comes. The MFTC zone is that number in half zones. The typical winter is an average year's coldest night, the kind of average USDA's map uses. The spring layer shows how many degrees warmer or colder a spot runs than Medford on a still, clear night at bloom.

Medford plans for −34°F, MFTC zone 3b, with a typical winter of −22°F, and the middle of the map is −35°F. Half the growing ground plans for −36°F to −34°F; about three fifths of all the growing ground is 3b, and the colder two fifths or so, down on the low ground, is 3a. The warm end is the high ground along and east of Highway 13 (Milan and Unity −32°F; Stetsonville and Abbotsford −33°F). The cold end is the Black River side around Owen (−38°F) and the river bottom at Interwald (−38°F). That 6°F spread is the difference between getting by with a −35°F tree and needing a −40°F one.

Why the map looks the way it does

Start with the water. The Black River runs south through Medford, dark with tannin, while the Big Eau Pleine rises near Stetsonville and the Little Eau Pleine near Unity, and both head east to the Wisconsin. So the Highway 13 country from Stetsonville down to Unity runs close to the divide between the Black and the Wisconsin, and the land falls off it, southwest to the Black River lowland around Owen and Withee and east toward the Eau Pleine. The named places on the map run from 1,242 feet at Owen to 1,508 feet at Gad. That isn't much relief, but cold air is heavy, and on a clear, calm night it slides off the higher ground toward the lowest country. Stetsonville, at 1,456 feet, plans for −33°F; Owen, −38°F.

The two long NOAA records show how that works. Medford (1,470 feet, kept since 1893) and the Owen station (1,238 feet) both average −27°F for the year's coldest night over their whole records; the split shows on the bad nights. Of the 11 biggest outbreaks in the two records, Owen was colder in 6, including −42°F to Medford's −32°F on January 30, 1951. Medford was colder in 5, including March 1, 1962 (−40°F to −36°F). On a still, clear night most of a cold pool is made on the floor as the ground radiates its heat to the sky, with what drains off the slopes adding to it, so the low station wins; when arctic air pours in on a wind, the air stays mixed and higher ground can come out colder. Since 1995 the low ground has had the edge, with Owen's 30-year number at −39°F to Medford's −35°F. A wide, shallow basin can pool harder than a deep valley that drains, and the land around Owen, Withee and Longwood is broad and nearly flat, with the floor within 3 miles of each at −37°F.

North and northwest of Medford the ground changes. The Perkinstown terminal moraine, the farthest reach of the last ice sheet, crosses Taylor County on a diagonal: a belt 4 to 6 miles wide of hummocky hills, small lakes and stagnant-ice hollows 33 to 49 feet deep (some over 98 feet), with about 240 old ice-walled lake plains in the county, raised flat tops ringed by ridges. That's frost-pocket ground. A closed hollow fills with cold air up to its lowest notch before it spills, and depth doesn't save you: in a study of mountain sinkholes, an 85-foot sinkhole got as cold as a 177-foot one. The raised lake plains often have well-drained soils and sit above the kettles, and a little height goes a long way: a 1930s Michigan State study found orchard ridges only 25 to 30 feet above the surrounding plain could be nearly as frost-free as high hills.

South of the moraine the land is older and gentler, and the catch is the soil. Colby silt loam, the most extensive soil in the region, has a compact, mottled subsoil with a hardpan below about 2 feet. It drains slowly and stays soggy in spring, and the 1918 survey called poorly drained flat land like it slow to warm. On the map, wet ground and hay ground run colder, not because of the water itself but because that ground sits low, carries thick grass and is often organic, and a surface like that hands back little heat on a clear night. Position counts too: Colby, 2.6 miles south of Abbotsford and 66 feet lower in flat ground with no bench within 3 miles, plans for −35°F to Abbotsford's −33°F.

Towns hold a little heat, and the map gives built-up ground up to 2.5°F; Abbotsford, built up and 50 feet above its floor, plans for −33°F over a floor of −35°F. The two Medford stations differ too: the long-record station and the automated station at the Taylor County Airport are both listed at 1,470 feet, yet since 1995 the first has averaged −23°F for the year's coldest night and bottomed out at −37°F, the airport −21°F and −30°F. There's no big water to soften any of it. The map has no big lakes, just small moraine lakes and millponds, and ponds don't count; even big lakes shelter their shores only when they're relatively free of ice. What this country has is snow, about 57 inches a year at Medford. Air over snow runs colder, but roots under 4 to 10 inches of it are well insulated, and after the snowless 2024-25 winter, UW-Madison's fruit program found apple damage just below the graft union.

Medford, the Black River and the millpond

Medford, the seat of Taylor County, Wisconsin, sits at about 1,415 feet where the Black River runs through town and into its 19-acre millpond. The map puts the town point on a toe slope 10 feet above the floor and plans for −34°F, MFTC 3b, with a typical winter of −22°F. Within 3 miles the floor and the coldest tenth of the ground both run −35°F and the warmest tenth −33°F. The riverbank (City Park, Whelen Ave Park) is the lowest ground in town, and a long outwash trough running north up Highway 13 toward Westboro can carry cold air down to it. Little Black, 2.4 miles south, plans for −35°F. The airport, about 60 feet above downtown, carries the mildest 30-year number of the three NOAA stations here, −33°F, a bit colder than anything it has recorded since 1995 (−30°F).

Medford's long-record station hit −37°F on February 4, 1996, 3°F colder than the town's planning number, so plant with room. Haralson, Honeycrisp and Snowsweet® apples, Toka plum and Evan's Bali tart cherry (all −45°F), and Cortland and Zestar!® apples, Ure pear and Meteor tart cherry (−40°F) have 6°F or more to spare. Superior plum and Lapins and Gold sweet cherries (−35°F) clear it by 1°F, so give them a south wall or a slope that drains.

Stetsonville, Dorchester and the Highway 13 ridge

Stetsonville, 4.6 miles south of Medford at 1,456 feet on the old Wisconsin Central line to Ashland, sits near the head of the Big Eau Pleine on broad upland with better-connected drainage than the till plain to the north. It plans for −33°F, MFTC 3b, with a typical winter of −21°F, and runs 1°F warmer than Medford at bloom. There's no bench ground within 3 miles, just upland, with the floor at −34°F and the warmest tenth −33°F. Dorchester, the Clark County village on the 45th parallel, sits in a shallow river bottom at 1,425 feet and plans for −35°F, about even with Medford at bloom. The bench ground within 3 miles plans for −32°F, so moving up out of the bottom buys 2°F to 3°F. Gad, the highest named place on the map at 1,508 feet, plans for −34°F. Along the ridge the −40°F trees have room, and Westcot and Morden 604 apricots (−45°F) should live, though the crop is another story.

Abbotsford, Colby and Unity

Abbotsford and Colby sit 2.6 miles apart on Highway 13, both straddling the Clark and Marathon county line and both part of the Wausau metro. In 1879 the Wisconsin Central found Colby Hill unsuitable for a junction and put it about 2.5 miles north, at what became Abbotsford. Abbotsford, at 1,417 feet and 50 feet above its floor, plans for −33°F, MFTC 3b, with a typical winter of −20°F, and runs 2°F warmer than Medford at bloom. The floor within 3 miles plans for −35°F and the bench ground −32°F.

Colby, where Joseph Steinwand developed Colby cheese in 1874, sits at 1,351 feet in broad, flat ground and plans for −35°F (3a by a hair), with a typical winter of −23°F. That's near the cold end of its own surroundings, where the warmest tenth of the ground plans for −33°F and the coldest −35°F. At bloom it reads 1°F warmer than Medford, about like Abbotsford, since the spring layer follows the ground right under you and Colby isn't in a bottom. Unity, 4.1 miles south near the head of the Little Eau Pleine, sits on rolling ground 40 feet above its floor and plans for −32°F, with a typical winter of −20°F, benches at −31°F and a floor at −34°F.

In Abbotsford and Unity, the −40°F and −45°F apples, Summercrisp pear, Underwood and Pipestone plums and Meteor tart cherry all clear −33°F with room. In Colby lean on the same trees and treat the −35°F ones as right at the line. Toward Wausau, Stevens Point or Marshfield, our Stevens Point, Wausau and Marshfield map covers you.

Owen, Withee, Curtiss and the Black River side

Owen and Withee sit under 2 miles apart in western Clark County, among the lowest towns on the map at 1,242 and 1,269 feet. Owen was a lumber town (the John S. Owen Company sawed its last log there in 1932), with Brick Creek dammed for a millpond on its way to the Popple River. Owen plans for −38°F, MFTC 3a, with a typical winter of −24°F, and runs 1°F colder than Medford at bloom. It sits right on the floor in the creek bottom, and within 3 miles the floor plans for −37°F, the coldest tenth −38°F and even the warmest tenth −35°F.

Withee, 20 feet above the floor with a little town warmth, plans for −35°F, with a typical winter of −21°F, warmer than nearly all the ground around it. It shares its name with the somewhat poorly drained Withee soil series. Longwood, 4.6 miles south of Owen, plans for −34°F over a −37°F floor. Curtiss, 6 miles east of Owen, has more bench ground around it than any town on the map: the village plans for −35°F, the benches −33°F and the floor −36°F. Atwood plans for −35°F and Riplinger, southeast of it, −36°F (3a).

Black River Apple Orchard on County O near Withee grows Honeycrisp, Sweet Sixteen, SnowSweet, Connell Red and Cortland, so apples work here. Out on the floor at −37°F to −38°F, though, we'd plant the −45°F and −50°F trees first: Frostbite and Wealthy apples, Kerr and Chestnut applecrabs, Bolshaya pear, Toka plum and FE tart cherry. Follow the Black River south and our Sparta, Tomah and Black River Falls map picks it up.

Whittlesey, Murat and the moraine country north of Medford

Whittlesey, in east-central Taylor County, gave its name to the farthest push of the Black River Lobe, a small offshoot of the Chippewa ice, and the ground around it is full of collapsed lake sediment and old lake-bottom clay. The map puts Whittlesey, at 1,478 feet, in a river bottom planning for −36°F, MFTC 3a, with a typical winter of −24°F. Interwald, 10 miles east and right on its floor, plans for −38°F with a typical winter of −26°F, the coldest of any named place on the map, and runs 2°F colder than Medford at bloom.

Murat, 5.8 miles northwest of Medford, shows the other side. On a 7 percent slope 80 feet above its floor, it plans for −34°F but reads 8°F warmer than Medford on a bloom night, the best spring reading of any named place on the map. The kettle lakes and bogs of the moraine around Perkinstown and Lake Kathryn, at the map's northwest corner in the Chequamegon National Forest, are the opposite: closed hollows where the cold has nowhere to go. Type your address in to see which you've got. On a slope or a raised lake plain, plant like Medford; in a kettle or a river bottom, plant like Owen.

Milan, Corinth and the Eau Pleine side

East of Highway 13, in western Marathon County, most of the hamlets plan for −32°F to −34°F. Milan, at 1,447 feet and 60 feet above its floor, is the warmest named place on the map: −32°F, MFTC 3b, with a typical winter of −20°F, and 1°F warmer than Medford at bloom. Corinth, 2.5 miles northeast, plans for −33°F but sits in a river bottom and reads 3°F colder than Medford at bloom, the coldest spring reading here. The winter number leans on station records and the broad lay of the land; the spring layer is the ground under you, and a bottom is where bloom-night frost settles first.

Farther south, Swan, on a 4 percent toe slope 60 feet above its floor, plans for −34°F and runs 4°F warmer than Medford at bloom, and March Rapids, on a 5 percent slope 60 feet up, plans for −33°F and runs 5°F warmer. Cherokee, right down on the floor, plans for −35°F and runs 1°F colder. If you want to try a sweet cherry or an apricot on this map, a slope like Swan's or March Rapids' is where I'd put it.

Spring frost and bloom around Medford, Abbotsford and Colby

The spring layer here is quieter than the winter one. Bloom-night frost follows the same drainage as the winter cold, but on gentle ground it doesn't have far to go, so the flats and villages nearly all read within 2°F of Medford. The big readings come where a real slope drains: Murat 8°F warmer than Medford, March Rapids 5°F and Swan 4°F. The bottoms run colder, Corinth by 3°F, Interwald by 2°F, and Owen and Cherokee by 1°F. Small numbers, but NC State's fruit people point out that 3°F to 4°F can separate no crop from a full one.

NOAA station records for 1991 to 2020 put the median last 32°F night at May 14 in Medford and May 17 at Owen, and the last 28°F at April 29 and May 4. One spring in ten the last 32°F comes May 24 or later at both. The first fall 32°F comes around September 30 at Medford and September 25 at Owen, for 138 and 136 frost-free days. The University of Vermont treats under 135 frost-free days and 2,000 growing degree days (base 50°F) as short-season country, and Medford, at 138 days and, in the 1971 to 2000 normals, about 2,011 growing degree days, sits right on that line. Frost pockets shorten both ends, so late fruit is a gamble down low.

Open blossoms of apple, pear, cherry, peach, apricot and plum all start dying near 28°F. Apples have room, since only about 15 percent of the blossoms need to set for a crop. The early bloomers are the problem: UW-Madison Extension says pears in northern Wisconsin often lose their crop to spring frost, and apricots fruit only 1 or 2 years in 5. Open haskap flowers take 19°F, and our Red Lake currant and Montana Black Currant fruited well in 2026 after their flower buds saw about 22°F.

The FAO's frost protection manual calls site "the single most important method of frost protection." Put apricots, plums and any sweet cherries highest, on a slope with an outlet, and keep them out of the bottoms and kettles; a north or east slope holds early bloomers back (Bob Purvis's rule). A hedge, fence line or road fill across a slope backs cold up into the trees above it, so open a gap at the low end. Through bloom, mow short, don't till, and water a day or two before a frost night, since firm, moist ground gives back the most heat.

What the weather records say

The coldest reading in the Medford station's record, which runs back to 1893, is −45°F on February 10, 1899. The Owen station's, back to 1947, is −42°F, on January 30, 1951 and again on January 15, 1972. On February 4, 1996, Owen read −38°F and Medford −37°F. Both stations average −27°F for the year's coldest night over their whole records, but only −23°F and −25°F since 1995, in line with the nationwide warming of the year's coldest night the National Climate Assessment found. Cold still comes, and February 1996 sits inside the window our planning low is built on.

USDA's 2023 zone map is built on the average of each winter's coldest night. Medford's long average of −27°F falls in USDA's 4a band (−30°F to −25°F), and UW-Madison Extension says the 2023 map now covers most of northern Wisconsin with 4a and 4b, with 3b nearly gone; check your zip on USDA's map. Our typical winters, built on winters since 1995, run −20°F to −24°F in the towns, which is 4b territory. Our MFTC zones run 3b and 3a because they're built on the planning low.

What you can grow around Medford, Abbotsford and Colby

By ground: every pick has come through the planning low for that ground, and "worth a try" means within 5°F, on your best spot.

• The Highway 13 ridge and the warm east side, −32°F to −34°F (Milan, Stetsonville, Abbotsford, Unity, Corinth, Gad, Swan, March Rapids, Little Rose): Honeycrisp, Zestar!® and Sweet Sixteen apples; Ure pear; Superior and Mount Royal plums; Meteor tart cherry; Westcot apricot; Lapins and Gold sweet cherries on a slope. Worth a try on the warmest ground: Montmorency tart cherry and Stanley plum (−30°F).
• Medford, Colby, Curtiss and most of the farm country, −34°F to −35°F (Medford, Little Black, Murat, Dorchester, Bright, Longwood, Curtiss, Atwood, Withee, Colby, Cherokee): Haralson, Snowsweet®, Wolf River and Cortland apples; Luscious and Summercrisp pears; Toka and La Crescent plums; Evan's Bali tart cherry; Morden 604 apricot; Valiant grape in a warm, sheltered spot. Worth a try on the best ground: Superior plum and Lapins and Gold sweet cherries (−35°F).
• Owen, Interwald, Whittlesey and the cold bottoms, −36°F to −38°F (Owen, Interwald, Whittlesey, Riplinger, and the floor around Owen, Withee and Longwood): Wealthy, Norda and Frostbite apples; Kerr and Centennial applecrabs; Vekovaya pear; Brookred plum; FE tart cherry; Romeo and Juliet dwarf cherries; Debbie's Gold apricot. The −40°F trees fit too, with only 2°F to 4°F to spare.
• Bush fruit, anywhere on the map: Honeyberry, Montana Black Currant, Success serviceberry and Nanking Cherry (−50°F), and Red Lake currant, Pixwell gooseberry and Boyne raspberry (−40°F).

UW-Madison Extension doesn't advise peaches, sweet cherries or apricots for northern Wisconsin, and this map shows why: spring frost and a short season. Siberian C peach (−35°F) should live on the ridge, but it ripens very late, and at about 138 frost-free days we wouldn't count on fruit. Lapins and Gold, the hardiest sweet cherries we've found, bloom early and belong on the slopes that read warm at bloom. If you only plant one tree in the cold bottoms, make it Kerr or Trailman. Ed Schultz saw zero winter injury on Centennial (Wealthy x Dolgo) after a winter that hit −47°F at his farm in Gallatin Gateway, Montana.

Wet soil matters most here. On Colby silt loam, and on Loyal soils with a perched water table 1.5 to 3.5 feet down from November to May, test drainage first (dig 2 feet, fill, let it drain, refill; under 10 hours is well drained), and where it's wet, plant high on a broad mound or raised row. UW warns that M.26, the most cold hardy Malling apple stock, won't tolerate wet soil and gets crown rot. It calls Bud.9 very cold hardy (brittle and fire blight susceptible) and G.30 hardy and fire blight resistant. Roots are the weak link and snow protects them: at Ed Schultz's farm, Bud 118 rootstock has seen near −50°F with no damage, under snow. Taper water from mid-August so trees harden off.

Underwood, Pipestone and Superior plums need a pollenizer, and Toka is a good one; Mount Royal and Stanley set fruit on their own. Apples and pears want a second variety nearby, and our pollination maps show what works with what. UW calls apple scab the most serious apple disease in Wisconsin, and fire blight comes with warm, wet bloom weather (Zestar!® has good fire blight tolerance; Lodi is very susceptible). Fence for deer, and put hardware cloth guards on trunks for rodents and rabbits.

Questions people ask

What growing zone is Medford, WI?

Medford plans for −34°F, MFTC zone 3b, with a typical winter of −22°F. The Medford station's long average of −27°F for the year's coldest night falls in USDA's 4a band, and UW-Madison Extension says 4a and 4b now cover most of northern Wisconsin. USDA's zone is based on an average winter, ours on the bad night we plan for.

When is the last frost in Medford, WI?

The median last 32°F night at Medford is May 14 and the last 28°F is April 29 (NOAA station records, 1991 to 2020). One spring in ten the last 32°F comes May 24 or later. At Owen, lower on the Black River side, the median is May 17.

What zone are Abbotsford and Colby, WI?

Abbotsford plans for −33°F, MFTC zone 3b, and Colby −35°F, just into MFTC zone 3a, with typical winters of −20°F and −23°F. Colby sits 66 feet lower, out in the flats.

Where are the frost pockets around Medford, Abbotsford and Colby?

The coldest ground is the low Black River side around Owen and Withee, where the floor plans for −37°F and Owen itself −38°F, plus river bottoms like Interwald (−38°F) and Corinth, which reads 3°F colder than Medford at bloom. North of Medford, the moraine's closed kettle hollows and bogs trap cold.

Can you grow cherries in north central Wisconsin?

Tart cherries, yes: Meteor (−40°F) and Evan's Bali (−45°F) clear the planning low nearly everywhere on this map. Sweet cherries are a long shot: Lapins and Gold (−35°F) clear the −32°F to −34°F ground, but they bloom early and UW-Madison Extension doesn't advise them for northern Wisconsin, so try them only on a slope that reads warm at bloom, like Swan or March Rapids.

Why does my yard stay wet in spring around Colby and Abbotsford?

Most of this country is Colby silt loam, which has a compact, mottled subsoil and a hardpan below about 2 feet, so water drains slowly and the ground stays soggy and slow to warm in spring. Test drainage before you plant, plant high on a mound or raised row, and keep M.26 rootstock off wet ground.

Warmer spots, colder spots

Here's the number to plan for at named places on the map, warmest first. Each one is the 1-in-30-year low for that spot: the cold hardiness calculator's number from the same weather stations, sharpened by our microclimate model for the ground right there. Zone is our MFTC zone, set by that one bad night, not by an average.

The weather stations behind it

These are the long-record stations in and around this map, with each one's own numbers since the winter of 1995-96. The last column is this map's 30-year number right at the station, which won't match the station exactly: it's a blend of the stations around it, the way the calculator works everywhere.

Source: NOAA records through ACIS, winters 1995-96 through 2025-26. What the "carried forward," "gaps filled" and AWOS rows mean is explained in how our microclimate maps work.