Stephenson, Michigan, sits in USDA hardiness zone 5a — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
Growers here do well with cabbage, cranberry, lavender, and collard greens — with the usual caveat that any single yard's soil, sun, and drainage cast the deciding vote.
Even in Stephenson, 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 Stephenson 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 Stephenson — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Stephenson — the short answer
Stephenson, Michigan: USDA zone 5a, about 149 days between hard freezes, across 694 acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 5a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 12
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 8
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~149
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- City area
- 694 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 5a is Stephenson's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Stephenson's 149-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Stephenson
Each reading below is measured for Stephenson itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredStephenson runs about 149 days between hard freezes — a short growing season.
Long-maturing crops like melons, sweet potatoes, and winter squash can run out of runway before the first hard freeze, ripening late or not at all.
Lead with fast-maturing varieties, and stretch the season on both ends with cold frames, low tunnels, or a greenhouse.
NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
Winter hardiness
MeasuredStephenson sits in USDA hardiness zone 5a.
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 Stephenson is in
Stephenson sits in the Northern Lakes and Forests — EPA Level III, inside the wider Northern Forests. That is read at Stephenson's own centroid rather than borrowed from Menominee County.
What Grows in Stephenson
Every plant below cleared Stephenson's own zone 5a and its 149-day season. Each card opens that plant's Michigan profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Stephenson?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. Cool-season crops can go in from around Apr 14; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 12 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 8 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. When the window is tight, the fall moves are quick ones — baby greens, radishes, and garlic set for next season.
What's on the federal record near Stephenson
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Stephenson. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- Stephenson Bus GarageUnderground Storage Tanks · 300 ft
- Cedar River State HarborUnderground Storage Tanks · 700 ft
- Former Beaudoin Distributing CoUnderground Storage Tanks · 1100 ft
- Jeffs Mobil ServiceUnderground Storage Tanks · 1300 ft
- Roubal Nursing Home, IncUnderground Storage Tanks · 1300 ft
- John & Nancy FrederiksenUnderground Storage Tanks · 1300 ft
- Cedar River PubUnderground Storage Tanks · 1300 ft
- Former Stephenson ShopUnderground Storage Tanks · 1300 ft
- Cedarville TownshipUnderground Storage Tanks · 1300 ft
- Andersons GroceryUnderground Storage Tanks · 1300 ft
- 35N 27W 22AAAD01 MENOMENitrate · 0.5 mi
- Convenience CornerUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Stephenson'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 Stephenson.
Total Sites
48
within ~10 miles of Stephenson
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
1 Superfund site (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Stephenson
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Stephenson
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Stephenson, Underground Storage Tanks runs higher than the national average — 31 sites within ~10 miles of Stephenson. Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
Underground Storage Tanks: Underground storage tanks are the single most common source of soil contamination near homes and gardens.
Use raised beds with imported soil — this eliminates the primary soil-contact pathway.
Check your specific parcel in Stephenson
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 Stephenson average
Your land is one point inside Stephenson
Everything above resolves to Stephenson as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 694 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 Stephenson Average
Stephenson Average
- ●USDA Zones 5a, averaged across Stephenson
- ●One soil character for all of Stephenson
- ●Frost dates read at Stephenson's scale: May 12 to Oct 8
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Stephenson's 5a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Stephenson
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Stephenson, Michigan — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Stephenson averages can't show:
We read public map data around Stephenson — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Stephenson average
How we know this about Stephenson
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 Stephenson’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 Stephenson
When does frost risk typically end in Stephenson?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Stephenson typically lands around May 12, 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 Jun 2.
When is the first frost in Stephenson?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Stephenson typically arrives around Oct 8, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 24, so the watching starts about Sep 8 — about 149 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Stephenson?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Stephenson sees about 149 frost-free days — roughly May 12 through Oct 8, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Jun 2 to Sep 24, about 114 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Stephenson?
The federal record around Stephenson is a meaningful one — 48 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (31), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks 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 gardeners stretch the season in Stephenson?
With about 149 frost-free days between hard freezes, Stephenson rewards the classic extension moves: floating row cover buys roughly two to four extra weeks at each shoulder — on this season that is a working window nearer 177 to 205 days — and cold frames or low tunnels buy more. Starting transplants indoors ahead of the May 12 hard-freeze normal stretches the season without touching the calendar.
Everything above is measured at Stephenson's scale — its 5a band and its 149-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Stephenson'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 Stephenson’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Stephenson's own scale — its own ~149-day season between 28°F freezes, the 694 acres it covers and 48 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Stephenson's own USDA hardiness band, zones 5aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Stephenson's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 12 and Oct 8 and the ~149-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 48 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Stephenson, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Stephenson's boundary and the 694 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 5a and a ~149-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Stephenson'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 Stephenson's 694 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Menominee County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Menominee 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 Menominee County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Stephenson's 694 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Stephenson you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 694 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks 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 Stephenson-wide figureread your own land →
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