Leland, Michigan, sits in USDA hardiness zone 6b — enough range to grow cool-season vegetables, hardy fruit, and warm-season crops that mature before the first hard frost.
A short list that earns its place here — cabbage, hazelnut, lavender, and collard greens — with any one site's soil, sun, and drainage making the final cut.
Even in Leland, 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 Leland 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 Leland — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Leland — the short answer
Leland, Michigan: USDA zone 6b, about 199 days between hard freezes, across 625 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 6b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 28
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 13
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~199
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 625 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 Leland's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Leland's 199-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Leland
Each reading below is measured for Leland itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredLeland runs about 199 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
MeasuredLeland 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 Leland is in
Leland sits in the North Central Hardwood Forests — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Leland's own centroid rather than borrowed from Leelanau County.
What Grows in Leland
Every plant below cleared Leland's own zone 6b and its 199-day season. Each card opens that plant's Michigan profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Leland?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 31; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 28 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 13 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. Even past midsummer there is room for a true fall garden here, and garlic planted near the close carries the momentum into next year.
What's on the federal record near Leland
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Leland. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- Leelanau County Sheriffs DeptUnderground Storage Tanks · 350 ft
- Earlybird RestaurantUnderground Storage Tanks · 950 ft
- STANDER MARINE INCBrownfields · 950 ft
- Leland Country ClubUnderground Storage Tanks · 950 ft
- Stander Marine IncUnderground Storage Tanks · 1000 ft
- Vans Garage IncUnderground Storage Tanks · 1000 ft
- VANS GARAGEBrownfields · 1000 ft
- Wright & SchlittsUnderground Storage Tanks · 1100 ft
- Leland Township HarborUnderground Storage Tanks · 1300 ft
- CONCANNON PAINTING COBrownfields · 1.5 mi
- US DEPT/HOMELAND SECURITYBrownfields · 1.7 mi
- Norht Manitou Island VillageUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.8 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Leland'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 Leland.
Total Sites
54
within ~10 miles of Leland
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
2 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Leland
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Leland
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Leland, Underground Storage Tanks runs higher than the national average — 40 sites within ~10 miles of Leland. 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 Leland
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 Leland average
Your land is one point inside Leland
Everything above resolves to Leland as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 625 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 Leland Average
Leland Average
- ●USDA Zones 6b, averaged across Leland
- ●One soil character for all of Leland
- ●Frost dates read at Leland's scale: Apr 28 to Nov 13
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Leland's 6b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Leland
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Leland, Michigan — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Leland averages can't show:
We read public map data around Leland — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Leland average
How we know this about Leland
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 Leland’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 Leland
When does frost risk typically end in Leland?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Leland typically lands around Apr 28, 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 19.
When is the first frost in Leland?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Leland typically arrives around Nov 13, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 30, so the watching starts about Oct 14 — about 199 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Leland?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Leland sees about 199 frost-free days — roughly Apr 28 through Nov 13, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 19 to Oct 30, about 164 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Leland?
The federal record around Leland is a meaningful one — 54 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (40), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile 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 Leland?
From about Oct 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 Nov 13 (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 13. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Leland's scale — its 6b band and its 199-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Leland'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 Leland’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Leland's own scale — its own ~199-day season between 28°F freezes, the 625 acres it covers and 54 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Leland's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Leland's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 28 and Nov 13 and the ~199-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 54 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Leland, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Leland's boundary and the 625 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6b and a ~199-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Leland'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 Leland's 625 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 Leland's 625 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Leland you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 625 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile 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 Leland-wide figureread your own land →