Standish, Michigan, sits in USDA hardiness zone 5b — a band that supports both cool-season staples and warm-season crops chosen to fit the local frost window.
Reliable performers under these conditions include cabbage, cranberry, lavender, and collard greens; what your own ground favors still comes down to its soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Standish, 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 Standish 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 Standish — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Standish — the short answer
Standish, Michigan: USDA zone 5b, about 180 days between hard freezes, across 1K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 5b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 24
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 21
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~180
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- City area
- 1K 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 Standish's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Standish's 180-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Standish
Each reading below is measured for Standish itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredStandish 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
MeasuredStandish 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 Standish is in
Standish sits in the Northern Lakes and Forests — EPA Level III, inside the wider Northern Forests. That is read at Standish's own centroid rather than borrowed from Arenac County.
What Grows in Standish
Every plant below cleared Standish's own zone 5b and its 180-day season. Each card opens that plant's Michigan profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Standish?
Rarely: the season closes in stages, not all at once, and each stage has its crops. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 27; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 24 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 21 — 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 Standish
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Standish. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- Standish Bulk PlantUnderground Storage Tanks · 900 ft
- Rich Oil #8858Underground Storage Tanks · 1200 ft
- SPEEDWAY LLCBrownfields · 1200 ft
- GENERAL PARTS DISTRIBUTION LLCBrownfields · 1200 ft
- Standish Auto PartsUnderground Storage Tanks · 1200 ft
- FAMILY DOLLAR STORESBrownfields · 1200 ft
- Miscisin Brothers, IncUnderground Storage Tanks · 1400 ft
- GLOBE FIRE SPRINKLER CORPBrownfields · 1600 ft
- GLOBE FIRE SPRINKLERToxics Release Inventory · 1600 ft
- RICHARDSON FORDBrownfields · 1700 ft
- Forward #1 PlazaUnderground Storage Tanks · 1700 ft
- Beacon & Bridge Market #23Underground Storage Tanks · 1800 ft
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Standish'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 Standish.
Total Sites
159
within ~10 miles of Standish
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
2 Superfund sites (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Standish
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Standish
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 Standish
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 Standish average
Your land is one point inside Standish
Everything above resolves to Standish as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 1K 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 Standish Average
Standish Average
- ●USDA Zones 5b, averaged across Standish
- ●One soil character for all of Standish
- ●Frost dates read at Standish's scale: Apr 24 to Oct 21
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Standish's 5b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Standish
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Standish, Michigan — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Standish averages can't show:
We read public map data around Standish — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Standish average
How we know this about Standish
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 Standish’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 Standish
When does frost risk typically end in Standish?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Standish typically lands around Apr 24, 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 15.
When is the first frost in Standish?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Standish typically arrives around Oct 21, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 7, so the watching starts about Sep 21 — about 180 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Standish?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Standish sees about 180 frost-free days — roughly Apr 24 through Oct 21, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 15 to Oct 7, about 145 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Standish?
The federal record around Standish is a meaningful one — 159 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (80), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 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 Standish?
From about Sep 21 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 21 (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 21. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Standish's scale — its 5b band and its 180-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Standish'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 Standish’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Standish's own scale — its own ~180-day season between 28°F freezes, the 1,394 acres it covers and 159 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Standish's own USDA hardiness band, zones 5bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Standish's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 24 and Oct 21 and the ~180-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 159 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Standish, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Standish's boundary and the 1,394 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 5b and a ~180-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Standish'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 Standish's 1,394 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Arenac County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Arenac 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 Arenac County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Standish's 1,394 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Standish you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,394 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.2 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 Standish-wide figureread your own land →
More in Michigan
Wider growing context
What grows across MichiganStandish sits outside our named growing regions, so Michigan as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides