Bendon, Michigan, sits in USDA hardiness zone 6a — a band that supports both cool-season staples and warm-season crops chosen to fit the local frost window.
Well-matched crops include cabbage, blackberry, california poppy, and collard greens, and the gap between "grows in the area" and "grows in your yard" is closed by soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Bendon, 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 Bendon 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 Bendon — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Bendon — the short answer
Bendon, Michigan: USDA zone 6a, about 176 days between hard freezes, across 1K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 6a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 3
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 26
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~176
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 1K 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 6a is Bendon's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Bendon's 176-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Bendon
Each reading below is measured for Bendon itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredBendon runs about 176 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
MeasuredBendon sits in USDA hardiness zone 6a.
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 Bendon is in
Bendon sits in the North Central Hardwood Forests — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Bendon's own centroid rather than borrowed from Benzie County.
What Grows in Bendon
Every plant below cleared Bendon's own zone 6a and its 176-day season. Each card opens that plant's Michigan profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Bendon?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. Cool-season crops can go in from around Apr 5; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 3 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 26 — 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 Bendon
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Bendon. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- 26N 12W 19BCBC 01 GRAND TRAVERSE CO (B14)Nitrate · 1.5 mi
- Cherryland Grocery IncUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.6 mi
- GENESIS ENGINEERING AND TECHNOLOGIES INCBrownfields · 2.1 mi
- HEIGES PERFORMANCE INCBrownfields · 2.3 mi
- WILLOW MANUFACTURING INCBrownfields · 2.5 mi
- 26N 12W 18AAA01 GRAND TRAVERSE CO (261218)Nitrate · 2.8 mi
- 25N 12W 05BBD01 GRAND TRAVERSE CO (251205)Nitrate · 3.8 mi
- 26N 12W 21BDB01 GRAND TRAVERSE CO (261221)Nitrate · 3.9 mi
- INTERLOCHEN CTR FOR THE ARTSBrownfields · 4.0 mi
- Interlochen Center for the Arts ICAUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.0 mi
- Former Gas StationUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.0 mi
- Buds ResortUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.0 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Bendon'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 Bendon.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Bendon
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Bendon
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Bendon, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Bendon — Nitrate (80 sites) and Superfund (3 sites). It's not cause for alarm — it's worth knowing, and there's a sensible way to grow around it.
Nitrate: Nitrate contamination primarily comes from agricultural fertilizer runoff and failing septic systems.
Superfund: Superfund sites represent the most severe contamination in the federal system.
Test well water for nitrate if you rely on a private well for irrigation (EPA standard: 10 mg/L).
Commission professional soil testing before any food production (test for heavy metals, VOCs, and SVOCs).
Check your specific parcel in Bendon
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 Bendon average
Your land is one point inside Bendon
Everything above resolves to Bendon as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 1K 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 Bendon Average
Bendon Average
- ●USDA Zones 6a, averaged across Bendon
- ●One soil character for all of Bendon
- ●Frost dates read at Bendon's scale: May 3 to Oct 26
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Bendon's 6a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Bendon
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Bendon, Michigan — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Bendon averages can't show:
We read public map data around Bendon — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Bendon average
How we know this about Bendon
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 Bendon’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 Bendon
When does frost risk typically end in Bendon?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Bendon typically lands around May 3, 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 24.
When is the first frost in Bendon?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Bendon typically arrives around Oct 26, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 12, so the watching starts about Sep 26 — about 176 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Bendon?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Bendon sees about 176 frost-free days — roughly May 3 through Oct 26, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 24 to Oct 12, about 141 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Bendon?
The federal record around Bendon is a meaningful one — 192 documented sites, mostly Nitrate entries (80), the nearest Nitrate record about 1.5 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 Bendon?
From about Sep 26 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 26 (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 26. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Bendon's scale — its 6a band and its 176-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Bendon'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 Bendon’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Bendon's own scale — its own ~176-day season between 28°F freezes, the 1,283 acres it covers and 192 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Bendon's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Bendon's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 3 and Oct 26 and the ~176-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 192 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Bendon, the closest Nitrate record about 1.5 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Bendon's boundary and the 1,283 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6a and a ~176-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Bendon'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 Bendon's 1,283 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Benzie County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Benzie 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 Benzie County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Bendon's 1,283 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Bendon you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,283 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Nitrate record about 1.5 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 Bendon-wide figureread your own land →
More in Michigan
Wider growing context
What grows across MichiganBendon sits outside our named growing regions, so Michigan as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides