Portland, Michigan, sits in USDA hardiness zone 6a — a band that supports both cool-season staples and warm-season crops chosen to fit the local frost window.
Expect cabbage, hazelnut, lavender, and collard greens to be strong candidates here; the deciding factors on any one parcel stay local — soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Portland, 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 Portland 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 Portland — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Portland — the short answer
Portland, Michigan: USDA zone 6a, about 188 days between hard freezes, across 2K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 6a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 21
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 26
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~188
- 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 6a is Portland's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Portland's 188-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Portland
Each reading below is measured for Portland itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredPortland runs about 188 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
MeasuredPortland sits in USDA hardiness zone 6a.
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 Portland is in
Portland sits in the Southern Michigan/Northern Indiana Drift Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Portland's own centroid rather than borrowed from Ionia County.
What Grows in Portland
Every plant below cleared Portland's own zone 6a and its 188-day season. Each card opens that plant's Michigan profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Portland?
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 Oct 26 — 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.
Documented around Portland
Survey cells within 31 miles of Portland checked for spotted lanternfly, none carrying a detection — a surveyed negative, not an absence of looking. Nearest documented record 72 miles off. What to watch for.
What's on the federal record near Portland
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Portland. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- ARCHER DANIELS MIDLAND COMPANYBrownfields · 150 ft
- ADM ALLIANCE NUTRITION INCToxics Release Inventory · 150 ft
- Central Soya Feed Co IncUnderground Storage Tanks · 150 ft
- Portland Party StoreUnderground Storage Tanks · 700 ft
- Nizs SuperetteUnderground Storage Tanks · 700 ft
- Portland C-StoreUnderground Storage Tanks · 850 ft
- Electric DepartmentUnderground Storage Tanks · 900 ft
- MI DEPT/TRANSPORTATIONBrownfields · 950 ft
- Mdot Row Keuschs GarageUnderground Storage Tanks · 950 ft
- Muffler ManUnderground Storage Tanks · 1100 ft
- Portland Fire Dept.Underground Storage Tanks · 1200 ft
- Joseph CrosbyUnderground Storage Tanks · 1300 ft
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Portland'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 Portland.
Total Sites
169
within ~10 miles of Portland
Risk Level
Moderate
Highest-severity
4 Toxics Release Inventory facilities
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Portland
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Portland
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.
- •On a private well, test for nitrates: above 10 mg/L the water needs treatment before irrigating.
Check your specific parcel in Portland
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 Portland average
Your land is one point inside Portland
Everything above resolves to Portland 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 Portland Average
Portland Average
- ●USDA Zones 6a, averaged across Portland
- ●One soil character for all of Portland
- ●Frost dates read at Portland's scale: Apr 21 to Oct 26
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Portland's 6a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Portland
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Portland, Michigan — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Portland averages can't show:
We read public map data around Portland — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Portland average
How we know this about Portland
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 Portland’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 Portland
When does frost risk typically end in Portland?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Portland 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 Portland?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Portland typically arrives around Oct 26, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 12, so the watching starts about Sep 26 — about 188 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Portland?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Portland sees about 188 frost-free days — roughly Apr 21 through Oct 26, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 12 to Oct 12, about 153 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Portland?
The federal record around Portland shows 169 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (94), the nearest Brownfields 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 Portland?
From about Sep 26 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 26 (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 26. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Portland's scale — its 6a band and its 188-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Portland'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 Portland’s own scale
7 of the readings below were taken at Portland's own scale — its own ~188-day season between 28°F freezes, the 1,683 acres it covers and 169 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Portland's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Portland's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 21 and Oct 26 and the ~188-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 169 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Portland, the closest Brownfields record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Portland's boundary and the 1,683 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6a and a ~188-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Portland's own centroid, the Southern Michigan/Northern Indiana Drift PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- Lanternfly survey cells around Portland checked, none carrying a detectionlydemapr (De Bona & Helmus), 10 km survey lattice
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Portland's 1,683 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Ionia County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Ionia 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 Ionia County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Portland's 1,683 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Portland you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,683 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 Portland-wide figureread your own land →
More in Michigan
Wider growing context
What grows across MichiganPortland sits outside our named growing regions, so Michigan as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides