South Lyon, Michigan, sits in USDA hardiness zone 6a — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
On paper, cabbage, hazelnut, lavender, and collard greens all suit these conditions — on the ground, soil, sun, and drainage make the final call.
Even in South Lyon, 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 South Lyon 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 South Lyon — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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South Lyon — the short answer
South Lyon, Michigan: USDA zone 6a, about 191 days between hard freezes, across 2K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 6a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 18
- 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
- ~191
- 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 South Lyon's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against South Lyon's 191-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in South Lyon
Each reading below is measured for South Lyon itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredSouth Lyon runs about 191 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
MeasuredSouth Lyon 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 South Lyon is in
South Lyon sits in the Southern Michigan/Northern Indiana Drift Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at South Lyon's own centroid rather than borrowed from Oakland County.
What Grows in South Lyon
Every plant below cleared South Lyon's own zone 6a and its 191-day season. Each card opens that plant's Michigan profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in South Lyon?
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 21; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 18 (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. Late in the year the fall bench takes over — quick greens, radishes, and garlic that repays you next summer.
Documented around South Lyon
Spotted lanternfly documented 21 miles from South Lyon, first recorded 2022. What to watch for.
What's on the federal record near South Lyon
Closest first, within ~10 miles of South Lyon. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- CITY OF SOUTH LYONBrownfields · 200 ft
- City Of South LyonUnderground Storage Tanks · 200 ft
- Norms Total Automotive IncUnderground Storage Tanks · 350 ft
- PROVIDENCE MEDICAL CENTER - SOUTH LYONBrownfields · 500 ft
- South Lyon CDO (M65190)Underground Storage Tanks · 550 ft
- Dolsen ElementaryUnderground Storage Tanks · 600 ft
- Community Education CenterUnderground Storage Tanks · 650 ft
- Amoco Oil #5235Underground Storage Tanks · 700 ft
- SUNRISE DENTAL ASSOCIATIONBrownfields · 700 ft
- Hop-in #500Underground Storage Tanks · 950 ft
- MarathonUnderground Storage Tanks · 950 ft
- BartlettUnderground Storage Tanks · 1000 ft
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from South Lyon'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 South Lyon.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of South Lyon
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of South Lyon
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around South Lyon, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of South Lyon — PFAS (15 sites) and Brownfields (695 sites). That's not a problem with your land — it's information about it.
PFAS: PFAS (per- and polyfluoroalkyl substances) are called "forever chemicals" because they do not biodegrade.
Brownfields: Brownfield sites are former commercial or industrial properties where legacy soil contamination (heavy metals, PAHs, petroleum compounds) may persist.
Test irrigation water source — this is the primary pathway for PFAS to reach garden crops.
Check EPA brownfield remediation status — many sites have completed cleanup with institutional controls.
Check your specific parcel in South Lyon
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 South Lyon average
Your land is one point inside South Lyon
Everything above resolves to South Lyon 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 South Lyon Average
South Lyon Average
- ●USDA Zones 6a, averaged across South Lyon
- ●One soil character for all of South Lyon
- ●Frost dates read at South Lyon's scale: Apr 18 to Oct 26
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not South Lyon's 6a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in South Lyon
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in South Lyon, Michigan — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that South Lyon averages can't show:
We read public map data around South Lyon — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the South Lyon average
How we know this about South Lyon
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 South Lyon’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 South Lyon
When does frost risk typically end in South Lyon?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in South Lyon typically lands around Apr 18, 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 9.
When is the first frost in South Lyon?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in South Lyon 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 191 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in South Lyon?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, South Lyon sees about 191 frost-free days — roughly Apr 18 through Oct 26, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 9 to Oct 12, about 156 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in South Lyon?
The federal record around South Lyon is a meaningful one — 1,364 documented sites, mostly Brownfields entries (695), the nearest Brownfields record under a tenth of a mile 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 South Lyon?
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 South Lyon's scale — its 6a band and its 191-day season. Your yard writes its own version of South Lyon'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 South Lyon’s own scale
7 of the readings below were taken at South Lyon's own scale — its own ~191-day season between 28°F freezes, the 2,394 acres it covers and 1,364 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- South Lyon's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6aUSDA PHZM 2023
- South Lyon's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 18 and Oct 26 and the ~191-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 1,364 documented contamination sites on the federal record near South Lyon, the closest Brownfields record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- South Lyon's boundary and the 2,394 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6a and a ~191-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at South Lyon's own centroid, the Southern Michigan/Northern Indiana Drift PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- A documented spotted-lanternfly record within reach of South Lyonlydemapr (De Bona & Helmus), 10 km survey lattice
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so South Lyon's 2,394 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Oakland County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Oakland 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 Oakland County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among South Lyon's 2,394 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of South Lyon you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 2,394 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 South Lyon-wide figureread your own land →
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