Boon, Michigan, sits in USDA hardiness zone 5a — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
Expect cabbage, cranberry, lavender, and collard greens to be strong candidates here; the deciding factors on any one parcel stay local — soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Boon, 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 Boon 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 Boon — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Boon — the short answer
Boon, Michigan: USDA zone 5a, about 150 days between hard freezes, across 538 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 5a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 10
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 7
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~150
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 538 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 Boon's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Boon's 150-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Boon
Each reading below is measured for Boon itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredBoon runs about 150 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
MeasuredBoon 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 Boon is in
Boon sits in the Northern Lakes and Forests — EPA Level III, inside the wider Northern Forests. That is read at Boon's own centroid rather than borrowed from Wexford County.
What Grows in Boon
Every plant below cleared Boon's own zone 5a and its 150-day season. Each card opens that plant's Michigan profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Boon?
Rarely: the season closes in stages, not all at once, and each stage has its crops. Cool-season crops can go in from around Apr 12; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 10 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 7 — 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 Boon
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Boon. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- Boon GroceryUnderground Storage Tanks · 550 ft
- Forest View Elementary SchoolUnderground Storage Tanks · 1100 ft
- Kens Auto Parts (roger Sharp)Underground Storage Tanks · 1100 ft
- COUNTY OF WEXFORD ROAD COMMISSIONBrownfields · 2.8 mi
- Wexford County Road CommissionUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.9 mi
- Lost Pines LodgeUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.9 mi
- MICH BELL TELEPHONEBrownfields · 4.1 mi
- Cadillac Microwave TowerUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.1 mi
- CADILLAC, CITY OFPFAS · 4.3 mi
- Dots Party StoreUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.9 mi
- US Forest ServiceUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.9 mi
- MI DEPT/NATURAL RESOURCES AND ENVIRONMENTBrownfields · 5.0 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Boon'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 Boon.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Boon
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Boon
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Boon, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Boon — Superfund (4 sites) and Toxics Release Inventory (13 sites). Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
Superfund: Superfund sites represent the most severe contamination in the federal system.
Toxics Release Inventory: TRI facilities report annual chemical releases to air, water, and land.
Commission professional soil testing before any food production (test for heavy metals, VOCs, and SVOCs).
Check prevailing wind direction — downwind parcels face higher exposure than upwind or crosswind locations.
Check your specific parcel in Boon
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 Boon average
Your land is one point inside Boon
Everything above resolves to Boon as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 538 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 Boon Average
Boon Average
- ●USDA Zones 5a, averaged across Boon
- ●One soil character for all of Boon
- ●Frost dates read at Boon's scale: May 10 to Oct 7
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Boon's 5a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Boon
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Boon, Michigan — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Boon averages can't show:
We read public map data around Boon — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Boon average
How we know this about Boon
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 Boon’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 Boon
When does frost risk typically end in Boon?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Boon typically lands around May 10, 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 31.
When is the first frost in Boon?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Boon typically arrives around Oct 7, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 23, so the watching starts about Sep 7 — about 150 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Boon?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Boon sees about 150 frost-free days — roughly May 10 through Oct 7, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 31 to Sep 23, about 115 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Boon?
The federal record around Boon is a meaningful one — 202 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (102), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.1 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 Boon?
From about Sep 7 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 7 (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 7. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Boon's scale — its 5a band and its 150-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Boon'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 Boon’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Boon's own scale — its own ~150-day season between 28°F freezes, the 538 acres it covers and 202 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Boon's own USDA hardiness band, zones 5aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Boon's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 10 and Oct 7 and the ~150-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 202 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Boon, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.1 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Boon's boundary and the 538 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 5a and a ~150-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Boon'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 Boon's 538 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Wexford County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Wexford 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 Wexford County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Boon's 538 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Boon you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 538 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.1 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 Boon-wide figureread your own land →
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