Manistique, Michigan, sits in USDA hardiness zone 5b — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
Crops well matched to these conditions include cabbage, cranberry, lavender, and collard greens — though what thrives on any one site still turns on its specific soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Manistique, 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 Manistique 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 Manistique — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Manistique — the short answer
Manistique, Michigan: USDA zone 5b, about 175 days between hard freezes, across 2K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 5b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 3
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 25
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~175
- 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 5b is Manistique's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Manistique's 175-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Manistique
Each reading below is measured for Manistique itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredManistique runs about 175 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
MeasuredManistique sits in USDA hardiness zone 5b.
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 Manistique is in
Manistique sits in the Northern Lakes and Forests — EPA Level III, inside the wider Northern Forests. That is read at Manistique's own centroid rather than borrowed from Schoolcraft County.
What Grows in Manistique
Every plant below cleared Manistique's own zone 5b and its 175-day season. Each card opens that plant's Michigan profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Manistique?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. Cool-season crops can go in from around Apr 5; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 3 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 25 — 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 Manistique
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Manistique. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- FANNIN OIL STATIONBrownfields · 800 ft
- Fannin Oil CoUnderground Storage Tanks · 800 ft
- FAMILY DOLLAR STORESBrownfields · 850 ft
- Holiday Stationstore #202Underground Storage Tanks · 1000 ft
- PROAMPACToxics Release Inventory · 1100 ft
- Heman StraslerUnderground Storage Tanks · 1200 ft
- Manistique Area SchoolsUnderground Storage Tanks · 1300 ft
- WARSHAWSKY IRON & METALBrownfields · 1300 ft
- Manistique OilUnderground Storage Tanks · 1400 ft
- Nelsons StandardUnderground Storage Tanks · 1400 ft
- Emerald City Car WashUnderground Storage Tanks · 1400 ft
- Manistique Papers IncUnderground Storage Tanks · 1500 ft
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Manistique'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 Manistique.
Total Sites
76
within ~10 miles of Manistique
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
2 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Manistique
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Manistique
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Manistique, Underground Storage Tanks runs higher than the national average — 51 sites within ~10 miles of Manistique. 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 Manistique
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 Manistique average
Your land is one point inside Manistique
Everything above resolves to Manistique 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 Manistique Average
Manistique Average
- ●USDA Zones 5b, averaged across Manistique
- ●One soil character for all of Manistique
- ●Frost dates read at Manistique's scale: May 3 to Oct 25
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Manistique's 5b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Manistique
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Manistique, Michigan — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Manistique averages can't show:
We read public map data around Manistique — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Manistique average
How we know this about Manistique
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 Manistique’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 Manistique
When does frost risk typically end in Manistique?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Manistique typically lands around May 3, 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 24.
When is the first frost in Manistique?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Manistique typically arrives around Oct 25, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 11, so the watching starts about Sep 25 — about 175 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Manistique?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Manistique sees about 175 frost-free days — roughly May 3 through Oct 25, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 24 to Oct 11, about 140 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Manistique?
The federal record around Manistique is a meaningful one — 76 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (51), the nearest Brownfields 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 Manistique?
From about Sep 25 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 25 (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 25. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Manistique's scale — its 5b band and its 175-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Manistique'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 Manistique’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Manistique's own scale — its own ~175-day season between 28°F freezes, the 2,054 acres it covers and 76 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Manistique's own USDA hardiness band, zones 5bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Manistique's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 3 and Oct 25 and the ~175-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 76 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Manistique, the closest Brownfields record about 0.2 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Manistique's boundary and the 2,054 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 5b and a ~175-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Manistique'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 Manistique's 2,054 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Schoolcraft County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Schoolcraft 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 Schoolcraft County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Manistique's 2,054 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Manistique you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 2,054 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Brownfields 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 Manistique-wide figureread your own land →
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