Amasa, Michigan, sits in USDA hardiness zone 4a — room for a real mix of vegetables, fruit, and perennials matched to the local frost calendar.
These conditions suit cabbage, cranberry, cilantro, and collard greens — a starting list any specific site will trim or extend with its own soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Amasa, 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 Amasa 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 Amasa — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Amasa — the short answer
Amasa, Michigan: USDA zone 4a, about 131 days between hard freezes, across 3K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 4a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 20
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Sep 28
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~131
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town 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 4a is Amasa's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Amasa's 131-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Amasa
Each reading below is measured for Amasa itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredAmasa runs about 131 days between hard freezes — a short growing season.
Long-maturing crops like melons, sweet potatoes, and winter squash can run out of runway before the first hard freeze, ripening late or not at all.
Lead with fast-maturing varieties, and stretch the season on both ends with cold frames, low tunnels, or a greenhouse.
NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Winter hardiness
MeasuredAmasa 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 Amasa is in
Amasa sits in the Northern Lakes and Forests — EPA Level III, inside the wider Northern Forests. That is read at Amasa's own centroid rather than borrowed from Iron County.
What Grows in Amasa
Every plant below cleared Amasa's own zone 4a and its 131-day season. Each card opens that plant's Michigan profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Amasa?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. Cool-season crops can go in from around Apr 22; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 20 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Sep 28 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. When the window is tight, the fall moves are quick ones — baby greens, radishes, and garlic set for next season.
What's on the federal record near Amasa
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Amasa. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- WHITE WATER ASSOCIATESBrownfields · 1900 ft
- 44N 33W 08AAAA01 IRON CO (AMASA)Nitrate · 2200 ft
- Tall Pines GroceryUnderground Storage Tanks · 2500 ft
- Heimerl BrosUnderground Storage Tanks · 2600 ft
- Amasa Supply CoUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- Iron County Road CommissionUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- Escanaba & Lake Superior RrUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- Rajalas Saw ServiceUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- AMASA SUPPLY COBrownfields · 0.7 mi
- Triangle Spur Chip PlantUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.7 mi
- CONNOR AGA SPORTS FLOORING LLCBrownfields · 2.8 mi
- Connor Aga Sports Flooring CorpUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.9 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Amasa'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 Amasa.
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Amasa
Highest-Severity Sites
Know Before You Grow
- •Underground tanks leak petroleum as they age — near a former filling station, test the soil.
- •Near a brownfield, raised beds of imported soil give your food clean ground.
- •On a private well, test for nitrates: above 10 mg/L the water needs treatment before irrigating.
Check your specific parcel in Amasa
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 Amasa average
Your land is one point inside Amasa
Everything above resolves to Amasa 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 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 Amasa Average
Amasa Average
- ●USDA Zones 4a, averaged across Amasa
- ●One soil character for all of Amasa
- ●Frost dates read at Amasa's scale: May 20 to Sep 28
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Amasa's 4a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Amasa
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Amasa, Michigan — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Amasa averages can't show:
We read public map data around Amasa — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Amasa average
How we know this about Amasa
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 Amasa’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 Amasa
When does frost risk typically end in Amasa?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Amasa typically lands around May 20, 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 Jun 10.
When is the first frost in Amasa?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Amasa typically arrives around Sep 28, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 14, so the watching starts about Aug 29 — about 131 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Amasa?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Amasa sees about 131 frost-free days — roughly May 20 through Sep 28, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Jun 10 to Sep 14, about 96 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Amasa?
The federal record around Amasa is light — 23 documented sites across the 9 federal source types we checked, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (11), the nearest Brownfields record about 0.4 miles out — and proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard. Growing food here starts from a strong position; a soil test before new food beds settles any site-specific question.
How do gardeners stretch the season in Amasa?
With about 131 frost-free days between hard freezes, Amasa rewards the classic extension moves: floating row cover buys roughly two to four extra weeks at each shoulder — on this season that is a working window nearer 159 to 187 days — and cold frames or low tunnels buy more. Starting transplants indoors ahead of the May 20 hard-freeze normal stretches the season without touching the calendar.
Everything above is measured at Amasa's scale — its 4a band and its 131-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Amasa'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 Amasa’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Amasa's own scale — its own ~131-day season between 28°F freezes, the 2,583 acres it covers and 23 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Amasa's own USDA hardiness band, zones 4aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Amasa's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 20 and Sep 28 and the ~131-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 23 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Amasa, the closest Brownfields record about 0.4 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Amasa's boundary and the 2,583 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 4a and a ~131-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Amasa'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 Amasa's 2,583 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Iron County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Iron County
- The growing challenges every Michigan grower plans around — written at state scale, so they stay on the state guidefrom Michigan
- Butterfly and beetle records, and the farmland pesticide estimate — all published county-widefrom Iron County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Amasa's 2,583 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Amasa you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 2,583 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Brownfields 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 Amasa-wide figureread your own land →
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