Stronach, Michigan, sits in USDA hardiness zone 6b — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
A short list that earns its place here — cabbage, blackberry, california poppy, and collard greens — with any one site's soil, sun, and drainage making the final cut.
Even in Stronach, 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 Stronach 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 Stronach — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Stronach — the short answer
Stronach, Michigan: USDA zone 6b, about 177 days between hard freezes, across 223 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 6b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 30
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 24
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~177
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 223 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 6b is Stronach's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Stronach's 177-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Stronach
Each reading below is measured for Stronach itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredStronach runs about 177 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
MeasuredStronach sits in USDA hardiness zone 6b.
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 Stronach is in
Stronach sits in the Northern Lakes and Forests — EPA Level III, inside the wider Northern Forests. That is read at Stronach's own centroid rather than borrowed from Manistee County.
What Grows in Stronach
Every plant below cleared Stronach's own zone 6b and its 177-day season. Each card opens that plant's Michigan profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Stronach?
For most of the year, no — what changes is which crops still fit the days remaining. 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 Oct 24 — 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.
What's on the federal record near Stronach
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Stronach. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- Stronach TwpUnderground Storage Tanks · 500 ft
- Bill's PlaceUnderground Storage Tanks · 650 ft
- PACKAGING CORPORATION OF AMERICAToxics Release Inventory · 0.6 mi
- PACKAGING CORPORATION OF AMERICABrownfields · 0.6 mi
- WEST BAY EXPLORATION FILER 19Brownfields · 0.7 mi
- INTERNATIONAL TRANSMISSION COMPANY LLCBrownfields · 0.7 mi
- Packaging Corp of AmericaUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- TES FILER CITY STATIONToxics Release Inventory · 0.9 mi
- PACKAGING CORP. OF AMERICASuperfund · 0.9 mi
- Martin Marietta Magnesia SpecltsUnderground Storage Tanks · 1.0 mi
- MARTIN MARIETTA CHEMICALSBrownfields · 1.2 mi
- MARTIN MARIETTA CHEMICALSToxics Release Inventory · 1.2 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Stronach'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 Stronach.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Stronach
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Stronach
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Stronach, Toxics Release Inventory runs higher than the national average — 13 sites within ~10 miles of Stronach. Knowing it is half the work — and it's nothing a thoughtful grower can't plan for.
Toxics Release Inventory: TRI facilities report annual chemical releases to air, water, and land.
Check prevailing wind direction — downwind parcels face higher exposure than upwind or crosswind locations.
Check your specific parcel in Stronach
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 Stronach average
Your land is one point inside Stronach
Everything above resolves to Stronach as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 223 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 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 Stronach Average
Stronach Average
- ●USDA Zones 6b, averaged across Stronach
- ●One soil character for all of Stronach
- ●Frost dates read at Stronach's scale: Apr 30 to Oct 24
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Stronach's 6b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Stronach
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Stronach, Michigan — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Stronach averages can't show:
We read public map data around Stronach — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Stronach average
How we know this about Stronach
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 Stronach’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 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 Stronach
When does frost risk typically end in Stronach?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Stronach 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 Stronach?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Stronach typically arrives around Oct 24, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Oct 10, so the watching starts about Sep 24 — about 177 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Stronach?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Stronach sees about 177 frost-free days — roughly Apr 30 through Oct 24, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 21 to Oct 10, about 142 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Stronach?
The federal record around Stronach is a meaningful one — 177 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (104), 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 I protect my plants from frost in Stronach?
From about Sep 24 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 24 (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 24. Hardy greens and roots shrug off light frost and sweeten after it — leave them in.
Everything above is measured at Stronach's scale — its 6b band and its 177-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Stronach'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 Stronach’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Stronach's own scale — its own ~177-day season between 28°F freezes, the 223 acres it covers and 177 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Stronach's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Stronach's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 30 and Oct 24 and the ~177-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 177 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Stronach, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Stronach's boundary and the 223 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6b and a ~177-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Stronach'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 Stronach's 223 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Manistee County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Manistee 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 Manistee County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Stronach's 223 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Stronach you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 223 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 Stronach-wide figureread your own land →
More in Michigan
Wider growing context
What grows across MichiganStronach sits outside our named growing regions, so Michigan as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides