Colon, 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.
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 Colon, 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 Colon 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 Colon — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Colon — the short answer
Colon, Michigan: USDA zone 6a, about 196 days between hard freezes, across 879 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 6a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 16
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 29
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~196
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 879 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 Colon's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Colon's 196-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Colon
Each reading below is measured for Colon itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredColon runs about 196 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
MeasuredColon 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 Colon is in
Colon sits in the Southern Michigan/Northern Indiana Drift Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Colon's own centroid rather than borrowed from St. Joseph County.
What Grows in Colon
Every plant below cleared Colon's own zone 6a and its 196-day season. Each card opens that plant's Michigan profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Colon?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 19; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 16 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 29 — 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.
Documented around Colon
Spotted lanternfly documented 17 miles from Colon, first recorded 2023. What to watch for.
What's on the federal record near Colon
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Colon. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- Colon Community SchoolsUnderground Storage Tanks · 1300 ft
- Dury Oil CoUnderground Storage Tanks · 1600 ft
- HEMELS CHEVROLETBrownfields · 1900 ft
- MYTHIC TATTOOBrownfields · 2100 ft
- Village Of ColonUnderground Storage Tanks · 2100 ft
- Bowers ServiceUnderground Storage Tanks · 2200 ft
- Fishers AutomotiveUnderground Storage Tanks · 2400 ft
- Colon ShellUnderground Storage Tanks · 2600 ft
- Mdot Colon Maint GarageUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- Colon Deli MartUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- Decker ServiceUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- Lawrence B WatsonUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Colon'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 Colon.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Colon
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Colon
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Colon, Underground Storage Tanks runs higher than the national average — 88 sites within ~10 miles of Colon. That's not a problem with your land — it's information about 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 Colon
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 Colon average
Your land is one point inside Colon
Everything above resolves to Colon as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 879 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 Colon Average
Colon Average
- ●USDA Zones 6a, averaged across Colon
- ●One soil character for all of Colon
- ●Frost dates read at Colon's scale: Apr 16 to Oct 29
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Colon's 6a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Colon
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Colon, Michigan — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Colon averages can't show:
We read public map data around Colon — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Colon average
How we know this about Colon
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 Colon’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 Colon
When does frost risk typically end in Colon?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Colon typically lands around Apr 16, 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 7.
When is the first frost in Colon?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Colon typically arrives around Oct 29, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 15, so the watching starts about Sep 29 — about 196 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Colon?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Colon sees about 196 frost-free days — roughly Apr 16 through Oct 29, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 7 to Oct 15, about 161 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Colon?
The federal record around Colon is a meaningful one — 140 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (88), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 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 Colon?
From about Sep 29 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 29 (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 29. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Colon's scale — its 6a band and its 196-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Colon'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 Colon’s own scale
7 of the readings below were taken at Colon's own scale — its own ~196-day season between 28°F freezes, the 879 acres it covers and 140 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Colon's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Colon's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 16 and Oct 29 and the ~196-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 140 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Colon, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Colon's boundary and the 879 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6a and a ~196-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Colon's own centroid, the Southern Michigan/Northern Indiana Drift PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- A documented spotted-lanternfly record within reach of Colonlydemapr (De Bona & Helmus), 10 km survey lattice
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Colon's 879 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom St. Joseph County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom St. Joseph 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 St. Joseph County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Colon's 879 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Colon you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 879 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 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 Colon-wide figureread your own land →
More in Michigan
Wider growing context
What grows across MichiganColon sits outside our named growing regions, so Michigan as a whole is its closest context here.