Empire, 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.
Well-matched crops include cabbage, hazelnut, lavender, and collard greens, and the gap between "grows in the area" and "grows in your yard" is closed by soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Empire, 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 Empire 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 Empire — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Empire — the short answer
Empire, Michigan: USDA zone 6b, about 204 days between hard freezes, across 659 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 6b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 21
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 11
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~204
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 659 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 Empire's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Empire's 204-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Empire
Each reading below is measured for Empire itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredEmpire runs about 204 days between hard freezes — a long growing season.
There is slack for succession plantings and slow-finishing crops: many vegetables can be sown twice, and the heat-lovers have time to ripen fully.
Plan a second sowing of quick crops after the first comes out, and use the fall window most gardeners let sit idle.
NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Winter hardiness
MeasuredEmpire 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 Empire is in
Empire sits in the North Central Hardwood Forests — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Empire's own centroid rather than borrowed from Leelanau County.
What Grows in Empire
Every plant below cleared Empire's own zone 6b and its 204-day season. Each card opens that plant's Michigan profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Empire?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 24; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 21 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 11 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. With a season this long, “too late” mostly means “switch crops” — second sowings and a full fall garden are the norm, with garlic closing the year.
What's on the federal record near Empire
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Empire. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- Mike Taghons GarageUnderground Storage Tanks · 650 ft
- Empire EZ MartUnderground Storage Tanks · 650 ft
- Qja Arsr3Underground Storage Tanks · 850 ft
- Village Of EmpireUnderground Storage Tanks · 950 ft
- US DEPT/INTERIORToxics Release Inventory · 1000 ft
- LEELANAU RESIDENTIAL MERCURY SPILL SITE RSSuperfund · 1800 ft
- 28N 14W 19BBBA01 LEELANAU CO EMPIRE VILLAGE NO. 7Nitrate · 0.6 mi
- US DEPT/TRANSPORTATIONBrownfields · 0.7 mi
- Maintenance FacilityUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- 28N 14W 18BABB01 LEELANAU CO EMPIRE SHALLOW NO. 5Nitrate · 1.7 mi
- Edward C FordUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.1 mi
- Triple D Orchards, IncUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.1 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Empire'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 Empire.
Total Sites
54
within ~10 miles of Empire
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
1 Superfund site (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Empire
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Empire
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Empire, Nitrate runs higher than the national average — 18 sites within ~10 miles of Empire. It's not cause for alarm — it's worth knowing, and there's a sensible way to grow around it.
Nitrate: Nitrate contamination primarily comes from agricultural fertilizer runoff and failing septic systems.
Test well water for nitrate if you rely on a private well for irrigation (EPA standard: 10 mg/L).
Check your specific parcel in Empire
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 Empire average
Your land is one point inside Empire
Everything above resolves to Empire as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 659 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 Empire Average
Empire Average
- ●USDA Zones 6b, averaged across Empire
- ●One soil character for all of Empire
- ●Frost dates read at Empire's scale: Apr 21 to Nov 11
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Empire's 6b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Empire
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Empire, Michigan — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Empire averages can't show:
We read public map data around Empire — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Empire average
How we know this about Empire
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 Empire’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 Empire
When does frost risk typically end in Empire?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Empire typically lands around Apr 21, 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 12.
When is the first frost in Empire?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Empire typically arrives around Nov 11, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 28, so the watching starts about Oct 12 — about 204 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Empire?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Empire sees about 204 frost-free days — roughly Apr 21 through Nov 11, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 12 to Oct 28, about 169 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Empire?
The federal record around Empire is a meaningful one — 54 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (30), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.1 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 Empire?
From about Oct 12 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 11 (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 11. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Empire's scale — its 6b band and its 204-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Empire'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 Empire’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Empire's own scale — its own ~204-day season between 28°F freezes, the 659 acres it covers and 54 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Empire's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Empire's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 21 and Nov 11 and the ~204-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 54 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Empire, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.1 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Empire's boundary and the 659 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6b and a ~204-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Empire'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 Empire's 659 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 Empire's 659 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Empire you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 659 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.1 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 Empire-wide figureread your own land →