Ludington, Michigan, sits in USDA hardiness zone 6b — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
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 Ludington, 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 Ludington 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 Ludington — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Ludington — the short answer
Ludington, Michigan: USDA zone 6b, about 196 days between hard freezes, across 2K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 6b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 21
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 3
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~196
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- City area
- 2K 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 Ludington's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Ludington's 196-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Ludington
Each reading below is measured for Ludington itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredLudington runs about 196 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
MeasuredLudington 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 Ludington is in
Ludington sits in the Southern Michigan/Northern Indiana Drift Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Ludington's own centroid rather than borrowed from Mason County.
What Grows in Ludington
Every plant below cleared Ludington's own zone 6b and its 196-day season. Each card opens that plant's Michigan profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Ludington?
For most of the year, no — what changes is which crops still fit the days remaining. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 24; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 21 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 3 — 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 Ludington
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Ludington. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- COUNTY OF MASON SHERIFF DEPARTMENTBrownfields · 350 ft
- Mason County Sheriff Dept.Underground Storage Tanks · 350 ft
- Longfellow TowersUnderground Storage Tanks · 400 ft
- LARAWAY FAMILY DENISTRYBrownfields · 600 ft
- Gte North IncUnderground Storage Tanks · 700 ft
- Royce's Ave ShellUnderground Storage Tanks · 750 ft
- Hackerts Standard ServiceUnderground Storage Tanks · 1000 ft
- PARIS INNOVATIONBrownfields · 1400 ft
- LUDINGTON DAILY NEWS INCBrownfields · 1700 ft
- Clingan Roofing Siding InsulatinUnderground Storage Tanks · 1700 ft
- Old Kent BankUnderground Storage Tanks · 1800 ft
- Ackers Car CareUnderground Storage Tanks · 1800 ft
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Ludington'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 Ludington.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Ludington
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Ludington
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Ludington, Superfund runs higher than the national average — 5 sites within ~10 miles of Ludington. Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
Superfund: Superfund sites represent the most severe contamination in the federal system.
Commission professional soil testing before any food production (test for heavy metals, VOCs, and SVOCs).
Check your specific parcel in Ludington
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 Ludington average
Your land is one point inside Ludington
Everything above resolves to Ludington as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 2K 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 city 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 Ludington Average
Ludington Average
- ●USDA Zones 6b, averaged across Ludington
- ●One soil character for all of Ludington
- ●Frost dates read at Ludington's scale: Apr 21 to Nov 3
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Ludington's 6b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Ludington
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Ludington, Michigan — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Ludington averages can't show:
We read public map data around Ludington — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Ludington average
How we know this about Ludington
The datasets: hardiness from the USDA ARS Plant Hardiness Zone Map 2023, read at this city’s own centroid; hard-freeze dates from NOAA 1991–2020 28°F normals at Ludington’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 city grain anywhere on this page — there is no city-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 Ludington
When does frost risk typically end in Ludington?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Ludington typically lands around Apr 21, 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 12.
When is the first frost in Ludington?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Ludington typically arrives around Nov 3, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 20, so the watching starts about Oct 4 — about 196 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Ludington?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Ludington sees about 196 frost-free days — roughly Apr 21 through Nov 3, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 12 to Oct 20, about 161 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Ludington?
The federal record around Ludington is a meaningful one — 235 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (128), the nearest Brownfields 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 Ludington?
From about Oct 4 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 3 (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 3. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Ludington's scale — its 6b band and its 196-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Ludington'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 Ludington’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Ludington's own scale — its own ~196-day season between 28°F freezes, the 2,150 acres it covers and 235 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Ludington's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Ludington's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 21 and Nov 3 and the ~196-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 235 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Ludington, the closest Brownfields record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Ludington's boundary and the 2,150 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6b and a ~196-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Ludington's own centroid, the Southern Michigan/Northern Indiana Drift PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Ludington's 2,150 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Mason County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Mason 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 Mason County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Ludington's 2,150 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Ludington you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 2,150 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 Ludington-wide figureread your own land →
More in Michigan
Wider growing context
What grows across MichiganLudington sits outside our named growing regions, so Michigan as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides