Paris, Michigan, sits in USDA hardiness zone 5b — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
The conditions favor cabbage, cranberry, lavender, and collard greens, among others — though every individual site edits that list with its own soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Paris, 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 Paris 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 Paris — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Paris — the short answer
Paris, Michigan: USDA zone 5b, about 162 days between hard freezes, across 550 acres of town.
- 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 12
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~162
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 550 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 Paris's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Paris's 162-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Paris
Each reading below is measured for Paris itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredParis runs about 162 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
MeasuredParis 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 Paris is in
Paris sits in the Northern Lakes and Forests — EPA Level III, inside the wider Northern Forests. That is read at Paris's own centroid rather than borrowed from Mecosta County.
What Grows in Paris
Every plant below cleared Paris's own zone 5b and its 162-day season. Each card opens that plant's Michigan profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Paris?
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 12 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. Late in the year the fall bench takes over — quick greens, radishes, and garlic that repays you next summer.
What's on the federal record near Paris
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Paris. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- Homestead Groc. & Sport GdsUnderground Storage Tanks · 1800 ft
- Mecosta Co Park CommUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- Paris Market LtdUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- Pekrul Well DrillingUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.3 mi
- MI DEPT/TRANSPORTATIONBrownfields · 1.4 mi
- WOLVERINE POWER SUPPLY COOPERATIVEBrownfields · 1.4 mi
- MI DEPT TRANSPORTATION BRIDGE - S16-54014Brownfields · 1.4 mi
- Northland Redi MixUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.0 mi
- MI DEPT TRANSPORTATION BRIDGE S18 S19 54014Brownfields · 2.2 mi
- Doyle EquipmentUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.3 mi
- MICHIGAN DEPARTMENT OF TRANSPORTATION B01-67011Brownfields · 2.3 mi
- SPEEDWAY LLCBrownfields · 2.5 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Paris'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 Paris.
Total Sites
235
within ~10 miles of Paris
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
2 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Paris
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Paris
Highest-Severity Sites
Know Before You Grow
- •Underground tanks leak petroleum as they age — near a former filling station, test the soil.
- •Near a brownfield, raised beds of imported soil give your food clean ground.
- •TRI facilities report what they release. Check the wind — downwind beds catch more of it.
Check your specific parcel in Paris
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 Paris average
Your land is one point inside Paris
Everything above resolves to Paris as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 550 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 Paris Average
Paris Average
- ●USDA Zones 5b, averaged across Paris
- ●One soil character for all of Paris
- ●Frost dates read at Paris's scale: May 3 to Oct 12
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Paris's 5b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Paris
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Paris, Michigan — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Paris averages can't show:
We read public map data around Paris — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Paris average
How we know this about Paris
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 Paris’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 Paris
When does frost risk typically end in Paris?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Paris 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 Paris?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Paris typically arrives around Oct 12, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 28, so the watching starts about Sep 12 — about 162 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Paris?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Paris sees about 162 frost-free days — roughly May 3 through Oct 12, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 24 to Sep 28, about 127 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Paris?
The federal record around Paris is a meaningful one — 235 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (123), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.3 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 Paris?
From about Sep 12 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 12 (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 12. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Paris's scale — its 5b band and its 162-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Paris'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 Paris’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Paris's own scale — its own ~162-day season between 28°F freezes, the 550 acres it covers and 235 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Paris's own USDA hardiness band, zones 5bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Paris's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 3 and Oct 12 and the ~162-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 235 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Paris, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.3 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Paris's boundary and the 550 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 5b and a ~162-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Paris'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 Paris's 550 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Mecosta County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Mecosta 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 Mecosta County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Paris's 550 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Paris you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 550 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.3 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 Paris-wide figureread your own land →
More in Michigan
Wider growing context
What grows across MichiganParis sits outside our named growing regions, so Michigan as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides