Parkdale, 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, blackberry, california poppy, and collard greens — with any one site's soil, sun, and drainage making the final cut.
Even in Parkdale, 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 Parkdale 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 Parkdale — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Parkdale — the short answer
Parkdale, Michigan: USDA zone 6b, about 180 days between hard freezes, across 991 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 6b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 1
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 28
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~180
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 991 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 Parkdale's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Parkdale's 180-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Parkdale
Each reading below is measured for Parkdale itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredParkdale runs about 180 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
MeasuredParkdale 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 Parkdale is in
Parkdale sits in the North Central Hardwood Forests — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Parkdale's own centroid, and it is not what its county reads: Manistee County is mostly Northern Lakes and Forests. The wider page above you is answering a different question about different ground.
What Grows in Parkdale
Every plant below cleared Parkdale's own zone 6b and its 180-day season. Each card opens that plant's Michigan profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Parkdale?
Rarely: the season closes in stages, not all at once, and each stage has its crops. Cool-season crops can go in from around Apr 3; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 1 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 28 — 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 Parkdale
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Parkdale. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- Parkdale EZ MartUnderground Storage Tanks · 750 ft
- Brown 7Underground Storage Tanks · 800 ft
- MUNSON HEALTHCARE MANISTEE HOSPITALBrownfields · 1500 ft
- West Shore HospitalUnderground Storage Tanks · 1500 ft
- Manistee Co Med. Care FacilityUnderground Storage Tanks · 2000 ft
- Manistee Co Sheriff DepartmentgUnderground Storage Tanks · 2000 ft
- Meijer Store #279Underground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- AUTOZONE INCBrownfields · 0.9 mi
- MEIJER INCBrownfields · 0.9 mi
- William H Acker TownlineUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.0 mi
- Parkdale GarageUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.0 mi
- BLARNEY CASTLE OIL COBrownfields · 1.1 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Parkdale'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 Parkdale.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Parkdale
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Parkdale
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Parkdale, Toxics Release Inventory runs higher than the national average — 12 sites within ~10 miles of Parkdale. It's not cause for alarm — it's worth knowing, and there's a sensible way to grow around it.
Toxics Release Inventory: TRI facilities report annual chemical releases to air, water, and land.
Check prevailing wind direction — downwind parcels face higher exposure than upwind or crosswind locations.
Check your specific parcel in Parkdale
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 Parkdale average
Your land is one point inside Parkdale
Everything above resolves to Parkdale as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 991 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 Parkdale Average
Parkdale Average
- ●USDA Zones 6b, averaged across Parkdale
- ●One soil character for all of Parkdale
- ●Frost dates read at Parkdale's scale: May 1 to Oct 28
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Parkdale's 6b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Parkdale
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Parkdale, Michigan — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Parkdale averages can't show:
We read public map data around Parkdale — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Parkdale average
How we know this about Parkdale
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 Parkdale’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 Parkdale
When does frost risk typically end in Parkdale?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Parkdale typically lands around May 1, 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 22.
When is the first frost in Parkdale?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Parkdale typically arrives around Oct 28, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 14, so the watching starts about Sep 28 — about 180 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Parkdale?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Parkdale sees about 180 frost-free days — roughly May 1 through Oct 28, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 22 to Oct 14, about 145 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Parkdale?
The federal record around Parkdale is a meaningful one — 188 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (115), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.1 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 Parkdale?
From about Sep 28 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 28 (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 28. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Parkdale's scale — its 6b band and its 180-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Parkdale'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 Parkdale’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Parkdale's own scale — its own ~180-day season between 28°F freezes, the 991 acres it covers and 188 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Parkdale's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Parkdale's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 1 and Oct 28 and the ~180-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 188 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Parkdale, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.1 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Parkdale's boundary and the 991 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6b and a ~180-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- Parkdale sits in the North Central Hardwood Forests — not the ecoregion its county mostly readsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Parkdale's 991 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Manistee County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Manistee 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 Manistee County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Parkdale's 991 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Parkdale you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 991 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.1 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 Parkdale-wide figureread your own land →
More in Michigan
Wider growing context
What grows across MichiganParkdale sits outside our named growing regions, so Michigan as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides