Caberfae, Michigan, sits in USDA hardiness zone 5a — enough range to grow cool-season vegetables, hardy fruit, and warm-season crops that mature before the first hard frost.
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 Caberfae, 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 Caberfae 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 Caberfae — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Caberfae — the short answer
Caberfae, Michigan: USDA zone 5a, about 153 days between hard freezes, across 283 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 5a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 8
- 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
- ~153
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 283 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 Caberfae's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Caberfae's 153-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Caberfae
Each reading below is measured for Caberfae itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredCaberfae runs about 153 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
MeasuredCaberfae 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 Caberfae is in
Caberfae sits in the Northern Lakes and Forests — EPA Level III, inside the wider Northern Forests. That is read at Caberfae's own centroid rather than borrowed from Wexford County.
What Grows in Caberfae
Every plant below cleared Caberfae's own zone 5a and its 153-day season. Each card opens that plant's Michigan profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Caberfae?
Too late for some crops, right on time for others — a growing season is a sequence, not a deadline. Cool-season crops can go in from around Apr 10; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 8 (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. The tail of the season still works: sixty-day crops into late summer, quick greens after, garlic last of all.
What's on the federal record near Caberfae
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Caberfae. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- Caberfae CrossingUnderground Storage Tanks · 1400 ft
- Lost Pines LodgeUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.2 mi
- Cherry Grove Twp Fire Dept.Underground Storage Tanks · 3.3 mi
- 22N 12W 13BB 01 WEXFRD HARIETTA HATCHERYNitrate · 3.9 mi
- Harrietta State Fish HatcheryUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.1 mi
- Michigan Truck Spring, IncUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.2 mi
- Dots Party StoreUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.3 mi
- US Forest ServiceUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.3 mi
- MI DEPT/NATURAL RESOURCES AND ENVIRONMENTBrownfields · 4.3 mi
- SHRI WAHEGURU INCBrownfields · 4.4 mi
- Mcbeath General StoreUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.4 mi
- SHRI Waheguru IncUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.4 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Caberfae'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 Caberfae.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Caberfae
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Caberfae
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Caberfae, Underground Storage Tanks runs higher than the national average — 22 sites within ~10 miles of Caberfae. It's not cause for alarm — it's worth knowing, and there's a sensible way to grow around it.
Underground Storage Tanks: Underground storage tanks are the single most common source of soil contamination near homes and gardens.
Use raised beds with imported soil — this eliminates the primary soil-contact pathway.
Check your specific parcel in Caberfae
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 Caberfae average
Your land is one point inside Caberfae
Everything above resolves to Caberfae as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 283 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 Caberfae Average
Caberfae Average
- ●USDA Zones 5a, averaged across Caberfae
- ●One soil character for all of Caberfae
- ●Frost dates read at Caberfae's scale: May 8 to Oct 8
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Caberfae's 5a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Caberfae
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Caberfae, Michigan — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Caberfae averages can't show:
We read public map data around Caberfae — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Caberfae average
How we know this about Caberfae
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 Caberfae’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 Caberfae
When does frost risk typically end in Caberfae?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Caberfae typically lands around May 8, 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 29.
When is the first frost in Caberfae?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Caberfae 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 153 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Caberfae?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Caberfae sees about 153 frost-free days — roughly May 8 through Oct 8, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 29 to Sep 24, about 118 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Caberfae?
The federal record around Caberfae is light — 34 documented sites across the 9 federal source types we checked, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (22), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.3 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 I protect my plants from frost in Caberfae?
From about Sep 8 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 8 (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 8. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Caberfae's scale — its 5a band and its 153-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Caberfae'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 Caberfae’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Caberfae's own scale — its own ~153-day season between 28°F freezes, the 283 acres it covers and 34 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Caberfae's own USDA hardiness band, zones 5aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Caberfae's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 8 and Oct 8 and the ~153-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 34 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Caberfae, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.3 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Caberfae's boundary and the 283 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 5a and a ~153-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Caberfae'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 Caberfae's 283 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 Caberfae's 283 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Caberfae you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 283 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.3 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 Caberfae-wide figureread your own land →
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