Hillman, 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.
The conditions favor cabbage, cranberry, lavender, and collard greens, among others — though every individual site edits that list with its own soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Hillman, 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 Hillman 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 Hillman — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Hillman — the short answer
Hillman, Michigan: USDA zone 5a, about 157 days between hard freezes, across 1K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 5a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 10
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 14
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~157
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 1K 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 Hillman's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Hillman's 157-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Hillman
Each reading below is measured for Hillman itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredHillman runs about 157 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
MeasuredHillman 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 Hillman is in
Hillman sits in the Northern Lakes and Forests — EPA Level III, inside the wider Northern Forests. That is read at Hillman's own centroid rather than borrowed from Montmorency County.
What Grows in Hillman
Every plant below cleared Hillman's own zone 5a and its 157-day season. Each card opens that plant's Michigan profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Hillman?
Rarely: the season closes in stages, not all at once, and each stage has its crops. Cool-season crops can go in from around Apr 12; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 10 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 14 — 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 Hillman
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Hillman. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- ELMER'S CRANE AND DOZER INCBrownfields · 1500 ft
- Hillman Bulk PlantUnderground Storage Tanks · 1500 ft
- MI DEPT/TRANSPORTATIONBrownfields · 1800 ft
- Morrison's IGAUnderground Storage Tanks · 1900 ft
- A-1 Party StoreUnderground Storage Tanks · 1900 ft
- Knotty Pine Resturant (former)Underground Storage Tanks · 1900 ft
- Hillman Schools-bus GarageUnderground Storage Tanks · 2000 ft
- Hillman Area Fire DeptUnderground Storage Tanks · 2100 ft
- Village Of HillmanUnderground Storage Tanks · 2200 ft
- WAYNE WIRE CLOTH PRODUCTS INCBrownfields · 2200 ft
- Mdot Hillman Bridge & ForestryUnderground Storage Tanks · 2300 ft
- The Sports Center IncUnderground Storage Tanks · 2300 ft
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Hillman'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 Hillman.
Total Sites
60
within ~10 miles of Hillman
Risk Level
Moderate
Highest-severity
1 Toxics Release Inventory facility
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Hillman
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Hillman
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Hillman, Underground Storage Tanks runs higher than the national average — 44 sites within ~10 miles of Hillman. 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 Hillman
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 Hillman average
Your land is one point inside Hillman
Everything above resolves to Hillman as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 1K 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 Hillman Average
Hillman Average
- ●USDA Zones 5a, averaged across Hillman
- ●One soil character for all of Hillman
- ●Frost dates read at Hillman's scale: May 10 to Oct 14
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Hillman's 5a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Hillman
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Hillman, Michigan — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Hillman averages can't show:
We read public map data around Hillman — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Hillman average
How we know this about Hillman
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 Hillman’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 Hillman
When does frost risk typically end in Hillman?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Hillman typically lands around May 10, 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 31.
When is the first frost in Hillman?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Hillman typically arrives around Oct 14, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 30, so the watching starts about Sep 14 — about 157 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Hillman?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Hillman sees about 157 frost-free days — roughly May 10 through Oct 14, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 31 to Sep 30, about 122 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Hillman?
The federal record around Hillman shows 60 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (44), the nearest Brownfields record about 0.3 miles out — a typical footprint for a growing area, and proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard. It's worth seeing which recorded sites sit closest to where you grow, and testing the soil before new food beds near any of them.
How do I protect my plants from frost in Hillman?
From about Sep 14 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 14 (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 14. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Hillman's scale — its 5a band and its 157-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Hillman'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 Hillman’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Hillman's own scale — its own ~157-day season between 28°F freezes, the 1,060 acres it covers and 60 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Hillman's own USDA hardiness band, zones 5aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Hillman's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 10 and Oct 14 and the ~157-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 60 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Hillman, the closest Brownfields record about 0.3 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Hillman's boundary and the 1,060 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 5a and a ~157-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Hillman'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 Hillman's 1,060 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Montmorency County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Montmorency 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 Montmorency County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Hillman's 1,060 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Hillman you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,060 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Brownfields 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 Hillman-wide figureread your own land →