Clare County, in Michigan, sits in USDA hardiness zone 5a — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
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.
Clare County lies within the Northern Lower Michigan ("Up North") — a regional growing area with its own character.
Grounded in USDA PHZM 2023 · Growable Ground suitability scoring · NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Clare County holds more than one microclimate.
Soils and elevations shift across Clare County, so your frost dates and drainage aren't the county average. 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 Clare County — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Clare County — the short answer
Clare County, Michigan: USDA zone 5a, about 155 days between hard freezes, across 361K acres.
- USDA zone
- 5a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 7
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 9
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- Days between freezes
- ~155
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F
- County area
- 361K acres
- US Census TIGER/Line 2025
Every figure names the dataset it came from. Hard-freeze dates are county 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 Clare County's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Clare County's 155-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Heat in Clare County
Across a year, Clare County accumulates about 1,811 growing degree days above 50°F, about 289 fewer than the middle Michigan county — ahead of 26 of Michigan’s 83 counties. Degree days are the heat a crop actually gets to work with — more of them is more room to ripen a long-season crop before the freeze closes the window.
Grounded in PRISM Climate Group, Oregon State University — 1991–2020 monthly normals
Soil in Clare County
Across Clare County, the ground is predominantly Entisols, where Graycalm, Montcalm, and Grayling are the most extensive named soil series. The soil is generally well drained with a sand surface. Topsoil pH runs about 4.1–6.2, strongly acidic. Rainfall drains through hydrologic group A soils.
Soil order
Entisols
Drainage
Well drained
Prime farmland
6%
Hydric soils
19%
Soil still varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
How the ground varies across Clare County
The USDA soil survey maps 28% of Clare County as well drained — but another 69% drains differently: 22% somewhat excessively drained, 12% very poorly drained.
Graycalm is the most extensive named soil at 20% of mapped acres, then Montcalm (14%) and Grayling (9%).
Which of them your own lot sits on is a parcel question, not a county one. Check your address for the survey at your boundary.
What this means for growing in Clare County
Each reading below is measured for Clare County itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Drainage
MeasuredThe dominant soils across Clare County are well drained, in hydrologic group A — ground that drains quickly.
The upside is soil you can work early in spring and roots that never drown; the cost is that fast-draining ground dries out fast and leaches nutrients away before plants can use them.
Work in compost and mulch to hold moisture and feed, and water more often in short doses than deep and rarely.
USDA NRCS SSURGO
Surface pH
MeasuredTopsoil across Clare County runs about pH 4.1–6.2, on the acidic side.
Blueberries, potatoes, and rhododendrons thrive in it, but most vegetables start locking out nutrients below about pH 6.0 and grow pale and stunted no matter how much you feed them.
A measured lime application raises pH for the crops that need it — but test first, because the right rate depends on your own soil, not the county average.
USDA NRCS SSURGO
Wet ground
MeasuredAbout 19% of Clare County is mapped as hydric — wetland — soil.
If your lot falls in one of those pockets, a standard in-ground bed will fight waterlogging all season, and roots that need air will struggle.
Check how your own ground drains before you dig; raised beds or moisture-loving plantings turn a wet corner from a problem into a niche.
USDA NRCS SSURGO
Season length
MeasuredClare County runs about 155 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
The kind of country Clare County is in
Clare County sits in the Northern Lakes and Forests — EPA Level III, inside the wider Northern Forests. One consistent ecological setting across the whole county.
What Grows in Clare County
We scored all 1,086 plants against Clare County's own USDA zone 5a and its own 155-day season between hard freezes, using the same matching engine that runs a full parcel report. These cleared both. Sun, soil pH and drainage vary lot by lot — those are the parcel questions below. Each card opens that plant's Michigan profile.
Is it too late to plant in Clare County?
For most of the year, no — what changes is which crops still fit the days remaining. Cool-season crops can go in from around Apr 9; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 7 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 9 — 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 gets applied to farmland in Clare County
USGS estimates 7,829 lb of Glyphosate on Clare County farmland in 2019, its largest by weight, ahead of 2,4-d (3,387 lb) and Atrazine (1,453 lb).
Farmland across the whole county, not any one lot. Check your address for the site-by-site record.
Safe to Grow Here?
What the federal record shows across Clare County — and how to grow with it.
We checked the federal record across Clare County — 216 documented sites across 5 of the 9 source types we track.
The most significant on record: 1 Superfund site. Sites tracked in EPA's Superfund program — from assessment-stage CERCLIS entries to confirmed National Priorities List cleanup sites.
There's a meaningful federal record across Clare County — worth a look before you plant food, not a reason to hold back from growing. Proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard. A soil test before new food beds is the sensible precaution here, and the map shows exactly which sites sit where, so you can see what's actually near you.
Sources: EPA, USGS — 1.8M documented sites tracked nationwide across 9 federal source types.
What's on the federal record near Clare County
Closest first, across Clare County. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- WELDONS TRANSIT MIX SVCSBrownfields · 1.9 mi
- NORTHERN OAKS RECYCLING AND DISPOSAL FACILITYBrownfields · 2.0 mi
- Gte Tower SiteUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.1 mi
- Niemi & Company, IncUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.1 mi
- Waste Management of MichiganUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.2 mi
- Federal Broach CoUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.2 mi
- Weldons Transit MixUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.3 mi
- Richard LindsleyUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.4 mi
- Clare County AirportUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.5 mi
- FIRST STUDENT INCBrownfields · 2.5 mi
- Bus GarageUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.5 mi
- CLARE COUNTYBrownfields · 2.6 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Clare County'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 Clare County.
Sources Checked
across Clare County
Severity Distribution
across Clare County
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Clare County, Underground Storage Tanks runs higher than the national average — 138 sites across Clare County. Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
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 Clare County
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 Clare County average
Your land is one point inside Clare County
Everything above resolves to Clare County as a whole — one PHZM band and one county frost record, read across 361K 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 county 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 county average.
Your Lot vs the Clare County Average
Clare County Average
- ●USDA Zones 5a, averaged across Clare County
- ●One soil character for all of Clare County
- ●Frost dates read at Clare County's scale: May 7 to Oct 9
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Clare County's 5a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your parcel in Clare County
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Clare County, Michigan — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Clare County averages can't show:
We read public map data around Clare County — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Clare County average
How we know this about Clare County
The datasets: hardiness from the USDA ARS Plant Hardiness Zone Map 2023, read at county grain; hard-freeze dates from NOAA 1991–2020 28°F normals at this county’s own record where one resolves, and the labelled statewide window where none does; soils from the USDA NRCS SSURGO survey, area-weighted across the county’s own map units; boundaries and acreage from US Census TIGER/Line 2025; the contamination and pesticide records from the federal sources named in their beats above. Where Clare County carries no record of its own, the figure is inherited and labelled — the resolution ledger below names each.
Common questions about Clare County
When does frost risk typically end in Clare County?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Clare County typically lands around May 7, 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 28.
How long is the growing season in Clare County?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Clare County sees about 155 frost-free days — roughly May 7 through Oct 9, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 28 to Sep 25, about 120 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Clare County?
The federal record around Clare County is a meaningful one — 216 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (138), the nearest Brownfields record about 1.9 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.
Everything above is measured at Clare County's scale — its 5a band and its 155-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Clare County's numbers: we read soil, sun, drainage and frost at your exact address. Try it for 14 days — no card required.
Will It Grow Here?
Zone fit is the first question — each answer below reads Michigan's frost window, season length, and soil profile against the plant's real requirements.
What this page reads at Clare County’s own scale
8 of the readings below were taken at Clare County's own scale — its own ~155-day span between 28°F freezes, the 3 most extensive soil series mapped here and 216 documented sites inside its boundary; one is borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Clare County's own USDA hardiness band, zones 5aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Clare County's own 28°F hard-freeze dates and its ~155-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- The soil order, drainage, surface pH, and the 3 most extensive named soil series mapped in Clare CountyUSDA NRCS SSURGO
- 216 documented contamination sites inside the county boundary, distance-sorted from its center — the closest Brownfields record about 1.9 miles outFederal environmental registers
- Clare County's boundary and the 361,195 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 5a and a ~155-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- Clare County sitting wholly inside the Northern Lakes and ForestsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- Which agricultural compounds go onto Clare County farmland, and roughly how muchUSGS NAWQA EPest county estimates
Inherited from a wider read
- The growing challenges every Michigan grower plans around — written at state scale, so they stay on the state guidefrom Michigan
What this page can’t tell you
- How the season shifts across Clare County — the ~155 days above is one reading at its centre; the 12 towns below each carry their owntowns in this county →
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Clare County's 361,195 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which of those 216 documented sites actually reaches your soil — that needs your address, the wind, and the groundwater directionhow we read the record →
- Where cold air settles, which slopes face the sun, and which way the wind runs on your own ground — none of it survives being averaged over Clare Countyread your own land →