Hubbell, Michigan, sits in USDA hardiness zone 5a — a band that supports both cool-season staples and warm-season crops chosen to fit the local frost window.
Expect cabbage, cranberry, lavender, and collard greens to be strong candidates here; the deciding factors on any one parcel stay local — soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Hubbell, 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 Hubbell 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 Hubbell — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Hubbell — the short answer
Hubbell, Michigan: USDA zone 5a, about 165 days between hard freezes, across 1K acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 5a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 7
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 19
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~165
- 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 Hubbell's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Hubbell's 165-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Hubbell
Each reading below is measured for Hubbell itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredHubbell runs about 165 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
MeasuredHubbell 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 Hubbell is in
Hubbell sits in the Northern Lakes and Forests — EPA Level III, inside the wider Northern Forests. That is read at Hubbell's own centroid rather than borrowed from Houghton County.
What Grows in Hubbell
Every plant below cleared Hubbell's own zone 5a and its 165-day season. Each card opens that plant's Michigan profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Hubbell?
Too late for some crops, right on time for others — a growing season is a sequence, not a deadline. 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 19 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. As the window narrows, the plantings just get faster — fall brassicas, then greens, then garlic to finish.
What's on the federal record near Hubbell
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Hubbell. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- Ernies ServiceUnderground Storage Tanks · 1000 ft
- OSMOSE INCToxics Release Inventory · 1900 ft
- OSMOSE INCBrownfields · 1900 ft
- Kramer ServiceUnderground Storage Tanks · 2300 ft
- Kratts Service StationUnderground Storage Tanks · 2400 ft
- Hubbell StationUnderground Storage Tanks · 2400 ft
- MI DEPT OF ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY - RRD - TORCH LAKEBrownfields · 0.5 mi
- TAMARACK STAMPMILL SITESuperfund · 0.6 mi
- CW CHAMPION WELDING ALLOYS LLCBrownfields · 0.6 mi
- C & H TAMARACK OPERATIONSSuperfund · 0.9 mi
- CALUMET STAMPMILLSuperfund · 0.9 mi
- C & H MINERAL BUILDINGSuperfund · 1.0 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Hubbell'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 Hubbell.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Hubbell
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Hubbell
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Hubbell, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Hubbell — Mining (107 sites) and Superfund (22 sites). That's not a problem with your land — it's information about it.
Mining: Mining sites — both historic and active — can leach heavy metals (arsenic, lead, cadmium, mercury) into soil and water for centuries after operations cease.
Superfund: Superfund sites represent the most severe contamination in the federal system.
Test soil for heavy metals (lead, arsenic, cadmium, mercury) — this is essential near any mining site.
Commission professional soil testing before any food production (test for heavy metals, VOCs, and SVOCs).
Check your specific parcel in Hubbell
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 Hubbell average
Your land is one point inside Hubbell
Everything above resolves to Hubbell 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 Hubbell Average
Hubbell Average
- ●USDA Zones 5a, averaged across Hubbell
- ●One soil character for all of Hubbell
- ●Frost dates read at Hubbell's scale: May 7 to Oct 19
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Hubbell's 5a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Hubbell
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Hubbell, Michigan — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Hubbell averages can't show:
We read public map data around Hubbell — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Hubbell average
How we know this about Hubbell
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 Hubbell’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 Hubbell
When does frost risk typically end in Hubbell?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Hubbell 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.
When is the first frost in Hubbell?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Hubbell typically arrives around Oct 19, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 5, so the watching starts about Sep 19 — about 165 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Hubbell?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Hubbell sees about 165 frost-free days — roughly May 7 through Oct 19, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 28 to Oct 5, about 130 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Hubbell?
The federal record around Hubbell is a meaningful one — 397 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (134), 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 Hubbell?
From about Sep 19 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 19 (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 19. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Hubbell's scale — its 5a band and its 165-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Hubbell'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 Hubbell’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Hubbell's own scale — its own ~165-day season between 28°F freezes, the 1,195 acres it covers and 397 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Hubbell's own USDA hardiness band, zones 5aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Hubbell's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 7 and Oct 19 and the ~165-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 397 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Hubbell, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Hubbell's boundary and the 1,195 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 5a and a ~165-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Hubbell'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 Hubbell's 1,195 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Houghton County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Houghton 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 Houghton County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Hubbell's 1,195 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Hubbell you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,195 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 Hubbell-wide figureread your own land →
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