Brutus, Michigan, sits in USDA hardiness zone 5a — room for a real mix of vegetables, fruit, and perennials matched to the local frost calendar.
Growers here do well with cabbage, cranberry, lavender, and collard greens — with the usual caveat that any single yard's soil, sun, and drainage cast the deciding vote.
Even in Brutus, 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 Brutus 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 Brutus — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Brutus — the short answer
Brutus, Michigan: USDA zone 5a, about 147 days between hard freezes, across 2K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 5a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 14
- 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
- ~147
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 2K 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 Brutus's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Brutus's 147-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Brutus
Each reading below is measured for Brutus itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredBrutus runs about 147 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
MeasuredBrutus 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 Brutus is in
Brutus sits in the Northern Lakes and Forests — EPA Level III, inside the wider Northern Forests. That is read at Brutus's own centroid rather than borrowed from Emmet County.
What Grows in Brutus
Every plant below cleared Brutus's own zone 5a and its 147-day season. Each card opens that plant's Michigan profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Brutus?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. Cool-season crops can go in from around Apr 16; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 14 (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. Short seasons reward decisiveness — quick-maturing varieties late, hardy greens under cover, and next year’s garlic in the ground before it closes.
What's on the federal record near Brutus
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Brutus. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- Lewis Market (Former)Underground Storage Tanks · 500 ft
- MI DEPT TRANSPORTATION BRIDGE B01-24021Brownfields · 0.7 mi
- Crooked River Marina IncUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.7 mi
- Hsasda - Station #11Underground Storage Tanks · 3.0 mi
- Alanson EZ MartUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.0 mi
- Alanson Ez MartUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.5 mi
- Littlefield Public SchoolUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.5 mi
- Wallace Car CareUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.5 mi
- LLP LLCBrownfields · 3.5 mi
- ALANSON MYSTERY SPILLSuperfund · 3.6 mi
- Pellston Field OfficeUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.6 mi
- Alanson ShellUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.6 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Brutus'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 Brutus.
Total Sites
163
within ~10 miles of Brutus
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
3 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Brutus
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Brutus
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Brutus, Superfund runs higher than the national average — 3 sites within ~10 miles of Brutus. 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.
Commission professional soil testing before any food production (test for heavy metals, VOCs, and SVOCs).
Check your specific parcel in Brutus
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 Brutus average
Your land is one point inside Brutus
Everything above resolves to Brutus as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 2K 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 Brutus Average
Brutus Average
- ●USDA Zones 5a, averaged across Brutus
- ●One soil character for all of Brutus
- ●Frost dates read at Brutus's scale: May 14 to Oct 8
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Brutus's 5a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Brutus
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Brutus, Michigan — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Brutus averages can't show:
We read public map data around Brutus — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Brutus average
How we know this about Brutus
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 Brutus’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 Brutus
When does frost risk typically end in Brutus?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Brutus typically lands around May 14, 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 4.
When is the first frost in Brutus?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Brutus 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 147 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Brutus?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Brutus sees about 147 frost-free days — roughly May 14 through Oct 8, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Jun 4 to Sep 24, about 112 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Brutus?
The federal record around Brutus is a meaningful one — 163 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (95), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile 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 gardeners stretch the season in Brutus?
With about 147 frost-free days between hard freezes, Brutus 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 175 to 203 days — and cold frames or low tunnels buy more. Starting transplants indoors ahead of the May 14 hard-freeze normal stretches the season without touching the calendar.
Everything above is measured at Brutus's scale — its 5a band and its 147-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Brutus'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 Brutus’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Brutus's own scale — its own ~147-day season between 28°F freezes, the 1,807 acres it covers and 163 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Brutus's own USDA hardiness band, zones 5aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Brutus's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 14 and Oct 8 and the ~147-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 163 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Brutus, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Brutus's boundary and the 1,807 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 5a and a ~147-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Brutus'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 Brutus's 1,807 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Emmet County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Emmet 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 Emmet County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Brutus's 1,807 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Brutus you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,807 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile 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 Brutus-wide figureread your own land →
More in Michigan
Wider growing context
What grows across MichiganBrutus sits outside our named growing regions, so Michigan as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides