Levering, Michigan, sits in USDA hardiness zone 5a — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
Reliable performers under these conditions include cabbage, cranberry, lavender, and collard greens; what your own ground favors still comes down to its soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Levering, 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 Levering 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 Levering — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Levering — the short answer
Levering, Michigan: USDA zone 5a, about 148 days between hard freezes, across 279 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 5a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 16
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 11
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~148
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 279 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 Levering's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Levering's 148-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Levering
Each reading below is measured for Levering itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredLevering runs about 148 days between hard freezes — a short growing season.
Long-maturing crops like melons, sweet potatoes, and winter squash can run out of runway before the first hard freeze, ripening late or not at all.
Lead with fast-maturing varieties, and stretch the season on both ends with cold frames, low tunnels, or a greenhouse.
NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Winter hardiness
MeasuredLevering 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 Levering is in
Levering sits in the Northern Lakes and Forests — EPA Level III, inside the wider Northern Forests. That is read at Levering's own centroid rather than borrowed from Emmet County.
What Grows in Levering
Every plant below cleared Levering's own zone 5a and its 148-day season. Each card opens that plant's Michigan profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Levering?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. Cool-season crops can go in from around Apr 18; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 16 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 11 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. In a season this compact, fast finishers and cold-hardy greens do the late work, and garlic tucked in before the freeze repays you next summer.
What's on the federal record near Levering
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Levering. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- COUNTRY BOYS CUSTOM RESTORATION & BODY SHOP LLCBrownfields · 350 ft
- Snider Construction, IncUnderground Storage Tanks · 600 ft
- Williams MarathonUnderground Storage Tanks · 750 ft
- Levering Central OfficeUnderground Storage Tanks · 1000 ft
- Emmet County Road CommissionUnderground Storage Tanks · 1300 ft
- Country General StoreUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.8 mi
- Barbara L DawsonUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.1 mi
- Richard G. HayesUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.1 mi
- COUNTY OF EMMET PELLSTON REGIONAL AIRPORT (PLN)Brownfields · 4.3 mi
- TRAVERSE CITY LEASING INCBrownfields · 4.4 mi
- Wanetah K TeikeUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.4 mi
- Walter J AldrichUnderground Storage Tanks · 4.4 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Levering'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 Levering.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Levering
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Levering
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Levering, Underground Storage Tanks runs higher than the national average — 41 sites within ~10 miles of Levering. Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
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 Levering
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 Levering average
Your land is one point inside Levering
Everything above resolves to Levering as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 279 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 Levering Average
Levering Average
- ●USDA Zones 5a, averaged across Levering
- ●One soil character for all of Levering
- ●Frost dates read at Levering's scale: May 16 to Oct 11
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Levering's 5a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Levering
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Levering, Michigan — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Levering averages can't show:
We read public map data around Levering — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Levering average
How we know this about Levering
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 Levering’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 Levering
When does frost risk typically end in Levering?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Levering typically lands around May 16, 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 Jun 6.
When is the first frost in Levering?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Levering typically arrives around Oct 11, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 27, so the watching starts about Sep 11 — about 148 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Levering?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Levering sees about 148 frost-free days — roughly May 16 through Oct 11, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Jun 6 to Sep 27, about 113 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Levering?
The federal record around Levering shows 59 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (41), the nearest Brownfields record under a tenth of a mile 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 gardeners stretch the season in Levering?
With about 148 frost-free days between hard freezes, Levering rewards the classic extension moves: floating row cover buys roughly two to four extra weeks at each shoulder — on this season that is a working window nearer 176 to 204 days — and cold frames or low tunnels buy more. Starting transplants indoors ahead of the May 16 hard-freeze normal stretches the season without touching the calendar.
Everything above is measured at Levering's scale — its 5a band and its 148-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Levering'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 Levering’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Levering's own scale — its own ~148-day season between 28°F freezes, the 279 acres it covers and 59 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Levering's own USDA hardiness band, zones 5aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Levering's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 16 and Oct 11 and the ~148-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 59 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Levering, the closest Brownfields record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Levering's boundary and the 279 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 5a and a ~148-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Levering'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 Levering's 279 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Emmet County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Emmet 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 Emmet County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Levering's 279 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Levering you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 279 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Brownfields 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 Levering-wide figureread your own land →
More in Michigan
Wider growing context
What grows across MichiganLevering sits outside our named growing regions, so Michigan as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides