Cedar, Michigan, sits in USDA hardiness zone 6b — a band that supports both cool-season staples and warm-season crops chosen to fit the local frost window.
On paper, cabbage, hazelnut, lavender, and collard greens all suit these conditions — on the ground, soil, sun, and drainage make the final call.
Even in Cedar, 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 Cedar 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 Cedar — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Cedar — the short answer
Cedar, Michigan: USDA zone 6b, about 197 days between hard freezes, across 115 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 6b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 24
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 7
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~197
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 115 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 6b is Cedar's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Cedar's 197-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Cedar
Each reading below is measured for Cedar itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredCedar runs about 197 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
MeasuredCedar sits in USDA hardiness zone 6b.
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 Cedar is in
Cedar sits in the North Central Hardwood Forests — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Cedar's own centroid rather than borrowed from Leelanau County.
What Grows in Cedar
Every plant below cleared Cedar's own zone 6b and its 197-day season. Each card opens that plant's Michigan profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Cedar?
For most of the year, no — what changes is which crops still fit the days remaining. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 27; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 24 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 7 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. Late in the year the fall bench takes over — quick greens, radishes, and garlic that repays you next summer.
What's on the federal record near Cedar
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Cedar. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- Daves Auto ServiceUnderground Storage Tanks · 400 ft
- Bunting Cedar MarketUnderground Storage Tanks · 400 ft
- Cedar Fire StationUnderground Storage Tanks · 600 ft
- EDS Repair ShopUnderground Storage Tanks · 800 ft
- WEST BAY SHEETMETAL INCBrownfields · 850 ft
- M C Short StopUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.1 mi
- Maple City- Satellite GarageUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.1 mi
- COUNTY OF LEELANAU ROAD COMMISSIONBrownfields · 3.1 mi
- Kasson Sand & Gravel CoUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.1 mi
- Glen Lake Community SchoolsUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.1 mi
- Lakeside Resort & Party StoreUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.7 mi
- Birch Point CampgroundUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.7 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Cedar'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 Cedar.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Cedar
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Cedar
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Cedar, Superfund runs higher than the national average — 4 sites within ~10 miles of Cedar. 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.
Commission professional soil testing before any food production (test for heavy metals, VOCs, and SVOCs).
Check your specific parcel in Cedar
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 Cedar average
Your land is one point inside Cedar
Everything above resolves to Cedar as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 115 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 Cedar Average
Cedar Average
- ●USDA Zones 6b, averaged across Cedar
- ●One soil character for all of Cedar
- ●Frost dates read at Cedar's scale: Apr 24 to Nov 7
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Cedar's 6b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Cedar
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Cedar, Michigan — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Cedar averages can't show:
We read public map data around Cedar — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Cedar average
How we know this about Cedar
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 Cedar’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 Cedar
When does frost risk typically end in Cedar?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Cedar typically lands around Apr 24, 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 15.
When is the first frost in Cedar?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Cedar typically arrives around Nov 7, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 24, so the watching starts about Oct 8 — about 197 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Cedar?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Cedar sees about 197 frost-free days — roughly Apr 24 through Nov 7, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 15 to Oct 24, about 162 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Cedar?
The federal record around Cedar is a meaningful one — 176 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (96), 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 I protect my plants from frost in Cedar?
From about Oct 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 Nov 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 Nov 7. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Cedar's scale — its 6b band and its 197-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Cedar'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 Cedar’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Cedar's own scale — its own ~197-day season between 28°F freezes, the 115 acres it covers and 176 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Cedar's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Cedar's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 24 and Nov 7 and the ~197-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 176 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Cedar, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Cedar's boundary and the 115 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6b and a ~197-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Cedar'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 Cedar's 115 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Leelanau County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Leelanau 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 Leelanau County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Cedar's 115 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Cedar you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 115 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 Cedar-wide figureread your own land →