Houghton Lake, Michigan, sits in USDA hardiness zone 5a — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
Among the crops suited to this profile: cabbage, cranberry, lavender, and collard greens. The site-level story — soil, sun, drainage — decides the rest.
Even in Houghton Lake, 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 Houghton Lake 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 Houghton Lake — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Houghton Lake — the short answer
Houghton Lake, Michigan: USDA zone 5a, about 152 days between hard freezes, across 7K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 5a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 9
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 8
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~152
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 7K 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 Houghton Lake's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Houghton Lake's 152-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Houghton Lake
Each reading below is measured for Houghton Lake itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredHoughton Lake runs about 152 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
MeasuredHoughton Lake 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 Houghton Lake is in
Houghton Lake sits in the Northern Lakes and Forests — EPA Level III, inside the wider Northern Forests. That is read at Houghton Lake's own centroid rather than borrowed from Roscommon County.
What Grows in Houghton Lake
Every plant below cleared Houghton Lake's own zone 5a and its 152-day season. Each card opens that plant's Michigan profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Houghton Lake?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. Cool-season crops can go in from around Apr 11; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 9 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 8 — 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 Houghton Lake
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Houghton Lake. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- MI DEPT/NATURAL RESOURCES AND ENVIRONMENTBrownfields · 600 ft
- Houghton Lake Shell Mini-MartUnderground Storage Tanks · 800 ft
- Village AutomotiveUnderground Storage Tanks · 2100 ft
- Police DepartmentUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- Fire DepartmentUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- Anderson & Mcclinchey Trust PropUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- Key AutomotiveUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- Houghton Lake ClarkUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- Virginia Stack ResidenceUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- Ricks Pit StopUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- Fuller Oil CoUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.9 mi
- Transit FacilityUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.9 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Houghton Lake'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 Houghton Lake.
Total Sites
119
within ~10 miles of Houghton Lake
Risk Level
Moderate
Highest-severity
32 brownfield sites
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Houghton Lake
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Houghton Lake
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Houghton Lake, Underground Storage Tanks runs higher than the national average — 81 sites within ~10 miles of Houghton Lake. 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 Houghton Lake
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 Houghton Lake average
Your land is one point inside Houghton Lake
Everything above resolves to Houghton Lake as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 7K 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 Houghton Lake Average
Houghton Lake Average
- ●USDA Zones 5a, averaged across Houghton Lake
- ●One soil character for all of Houghton Lake
- ●Frost dates read at Houghton Lake's scale: May 9 to Oct 8
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Houghton Lake's 5a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Houghton Lake
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Houghton Lake, Michigan — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Houghton Lake averages can't show:
We read public map data around Houghton Lake — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Houghton Lake average
How we know this about Houghton Lake
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 Houghton Lake’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 Houghton Lake
When does frost risk typically end in Houghton Lake?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Houghton Lake typically lands around May 9, 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 30.
When is the first frost in Houghton Lake?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Houghton Lake typically arrives around Oct 8, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 24, so the watching starts about Sep 8 — about 152 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Houghton Lake?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Houghton Lake sees about 152 frost-free days — roughly May 9 through Oct 8, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 30 to Sep 24, about 117 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Houghton Lake?
The federal record around Houghton Lake shows 119 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (81), the nearest Brownfields record about 0.1 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 Houghton Lake?
From about Sep 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 Oct 8 (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 8. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Houghton Lake's scale — its 5a band and its 152-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Houghton Lake'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 Houghton Lake’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Houghton Lake's own scale — its own ~152-day season between 28°F freezes, the 6,880 acres it covers and 119 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Houghton Lake's own USDA hardiness band, zones 5aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Houghton Lake's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 9 and Oct 8 and the ~152-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 119 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Houghton Lake, the closest Brownfields record about 0.1 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Houghton Lake's boundary and the 6,880 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 5a and a ~152-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Houghton Lake'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 Houghton Lake's 6,880 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Roscommon County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Roscommon 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 Roscommon County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Houghton Lake's 6,880 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Houghton Lake you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 6,880 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Brownfields 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 Houghton Lake-wide figureread your own land →