St. James, Michigan, sits in USDA hardiness zone 6a — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
Growers here do well with cabbage, hazelnut, lavender, and collard greens — with the usual caveat that any single yard's soil, sun, and drainage cast the deciding vote.
Even in St. James, 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 St. James 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 St. James — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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St. James — the short answer
St. James, Michigan: USDA zone 6a, about 189 days between hard freezes, across 659 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 6a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 30
- Charlevoix County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Nov 5
- Charlevoix County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Days between freezes
- ~189
- Charlevoix County normal — NOAA 1991–2020, nearest to this town
- Town area
- 659 acres
- US Census TIGER/Line 2025
Every figure names the dataset it came from. No 30-year normal resolves at this town’s own centroid, so the hard-freeze dates are Charlevoix County’s — the closest measured record, labelled as such rather than passed off as local.
Hardiness Zone Range
Zone 6a is St. James's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against St. James's 189-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in St. James
Each reading below is measured for St. James itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
From county recordsSt. James runs about 189 days between hard freezes (read from Charlevoix County, the closest normal to St. James) — 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
MeasuredSt. James 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 St. James is in
St. James sits in the Northern Lakes and Forests — EPA Level III, inside the wider Northern Forests. That is read at St. James's own centroid, and it is not what its county reads: Charlevoix County is mostly North Central Hardwood Forests. The wider page above you is answering a different question about different ground.
What Grows in St. James
Every plant below cleared St. James's own zone 6a and its 189-day season. Each card opens that plant's Michigan profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in St. James?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. Cool-season crops can go in from around Apr 2; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 30 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Nov 5 — 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 St. James
Closest first, within ~10 miles of St. James. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- BEAVER ISLAND COMMUNITY SCHOOLBrownfields · 2200 ft
- Donkey Town RoadUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- The StationUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.0 mi
- CENTRAL MICHIGAN UNIVERSITYBrownfields · 1.0 mi
- Beaver Island Marina IncUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.1 mi
- PEAINE TOWNSHIPBrownfields · 1.1 mi
- Charlevoix County Road CommissionUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.1 mi
- Mcdonoughs MarketUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.1 mi
- Martin Gas & Oil LLCUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.7 mi
- Island AirwaysUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.8 mi
- Beaver Island AirportUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.7 mi
- Beaver Island Biological StationUnderground Storage Tanks · 6.6 mi
Measured from St. James'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 St. James.
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of St. James
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.
Check your specific parcel in St. James
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 St. James average
Your land is one point inside St. James
Everything above resolves to St. James as a whole — one PHZM band, read across 659 acres, with hard-freeze dates borrowed from Charlevoix County’s record because no 30-year normal resolves at this town’s own centroid. 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 St. James Average
St. James Average
- ●USDA Zones 6a, averaged across St. James
- ●One soil character for all of St. James
- ●Frost dates read at St. James's scale: Apr 30 to Nov 5
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not St. James's 6a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in St. James
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in St. James, Michigan — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that St. James averages can't show:
We read public map data around St. James — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the St. James average
How we know this about St. James
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 Charlevoix County’s record, because none resolves here; 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 St. James
When does frost risk typically end in St. James?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in St. James typically lands around Apr 30, 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 21.
When is the first frost in St. James?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in St. James typically arrives around Nov 5, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 22, so the watching starts about Oct 6 — about 189 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in St. James?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, St. James sees about 189 frost-free days — roughly Apr 30 through Nov 5, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 21 to Oct 22, about 154 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in St. James?
The federal record around St. James is light — 13 documented sites across the 9 federal source types we checked, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (9), the nearest Brownfields record about 0.4 miles out — and proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard. Growing food here starts from a strong position; a soil test before new food beds settles any site-specific question.
How do I protect my plants from frost in St. James?
From about Oct 6 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 Nov 5 (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 Nov 5. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at St. James's scale — its 6a band and its 189-day season. Your yard writes its own version of St. James'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 St. James’s own scale
5 of the readings below were taken at St. James's own scale — the 659 acres it covers and 13 documented sites around it; 5 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- St. James's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6aUSDA PHZM 2023
- 13 documented contamination sites on the federal record near St. James, the closest Brownfields record about 0.4 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- St. James's boundary and the 659 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6a and a ~189-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- St. James sits in the Northern Lakes and Forests — not the ecoregion its county mostly readsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
Inherited from a wider read
- The 28°F hard-freeze dates — St. James has no normal of its own, so its county's is the closest measured readfrom Charlevoix County
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so St. James's 659 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Charlevoix County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Charlevoix 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 Charlevoix County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among St. James's 659 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of St. James you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 659 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Brownfields record about 0.4 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 St. James-wide figureread your own land →
More in Michigan
Wider growing context
What grows across MichiganSt. James sits outside our named growing regions, so Michigan as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides