Newberry, Michigan, sits in USDA hardiness zone 5a — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
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 Newberry, 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 Newberry 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 Newberry — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Newberry — the short answer
Newberry, Michigan: USDA zone 5a, about 152 days between hard freezes, across 628 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 5a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 12
- 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
- ~152
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 628 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 Newberry's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Newberry's 152-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Newberry
Each reading below is measured for Newberry itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredNewberry runs about 152 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
MeasuredNewberry 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 Newberry is in
Newberry sits in the Northern Lakes and Forests — EPA Level III, inside the wider Northern Forests. That is read at Newberry's own centroid rather than borrowed from Luce County.
What Grows in Newberry
Every plant below cleared Newberry's own zone 5a and its 152-day season. Each card opens that plant's Michigan profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Newberry?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. Cool-season crops can go in from around Apr 14; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 12 (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. 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 Newberry
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Newberry. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- Bob's Standard ServiceUnderground Storage Tanks · 300 ft
- Former Newberry Filling Station # 2Underground Storage Tanks · 300 ft
- Former Newberry Filling Station # 3Underground Storage Tanks · 350 ft
- Former Bayshore Filling StationUnderground Storage Tanks · 700 ft
- Pentland SchoolUnderground Storage Tanks · 800 ft
- George D KroppUnderground Storage Tanks · 800 ft
- Randy MeyersUnderground Storage Tanks · 800 ft
- Northmere ResortUnderground Storage Tanks · 800 ft
- Newberry South StationUnderground Storage Tanks · 800 ft
- Little Lake MarinaUnderground Storage Tanks · 800 ft
- DnrUnderground Storage Tanks · 800 ft
- Lloyd Roach JrUnderground Storage Tanks · 800 ft
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Newberry'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 Newberry.
Total Sites
69
within ~10 miles of Newberry
Risk Level
Moderate
Highest-severity
2 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Newberry
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Newberry
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Newberry, Underground Storage Tanks runs higher than the national average — 54 sites within ~10 miles of Newberry. 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 Newberry
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 Newberry average
Your land is one point inside Newberry
Everything above resolves to Newberry as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 628 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 Newberry Average
Newberry Average
- ●USDA Zones 5a, averaged across Newberry
- ●One soil character for all of Newberry
- ●Frost dates read at Newberry's scale: May 12 to Oct 11
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Newberry's 5a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Newberry
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Newberry, Michigan — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Newberry averages can't show:
We read public map data around Newberry — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Newberry average
How we know this about Newberry
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 Newberry’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 Newberry
When does frost risk typically end in Newberry?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Newberry typically lands around May 12, 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 2.
When is the first frost in Newberry?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Newberry 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 152 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Newberry?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Newberry sees about 152 frost-free days — roughly May 12 through Oct 11, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Jun 2 to Sep 27, about 117 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Newberry?
The federal record around Newberry shows 69 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (54), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks 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 I protect my plants from frost in Newberry?
From about Sep 11 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 11 (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 11. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Newberry's scale — its 5a band and its 152-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Newberry'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 Newberry’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Newberry's own scale — its own ~152-day season between 28°F freezes, the 628 acres it covers and 69 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Newberry's own USDA hardiness band, zones 5aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Newberry's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 12 and Oct 11 and the ~152-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 69 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Newberry, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Newberry's boundary and the 628 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 5a and a ~152-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Newberry'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 Newberry's 628 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Luce County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Luce 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 Luce County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Newberry's 628 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Newberry you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 628 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 Newberry-wide figureread your own land →
More in Michigan
Growing region
Nearby growing guides