Tawas City, Michigan, sits in USDA hardiness zone 6a — a range where zone-matched perennials and frost-aware annual timing set what succeeds.
The conditions favor cabbage, blackberry, california poppy, and collard greens, among others — though every individual site edits that list with its own soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Tawas City, 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 Tawas City 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 Tawas City — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Tawas City — the short answer
Tawas City, Michigan: USDA zone 6a, about 178 days between hard freezes, across 1K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 6a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 26
- 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
- ~178
- 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 6a is Tawas City's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Tawas City's 178-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Tawas City
Each reading below is measured for Tawas City itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredTawas City runs about 178 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
MeasuredTawas City 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 Tawas City is in
Tawas City sits in the Northern Lakes and Forests — EPA Level III, inside the wider Northern Forests. That is read at Tawas City's own centroid rather than borrowed from Iosco County.
What Grows in Tawas City
Every plant below cleared Tawas City's own zone 6a and its 178-day season. Each card opens that plant's Michigan profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Tawas City?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 29; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 26 (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. The tail of the season still works: sixty-day crops into late summer, quick greens after, garlic last of all.
What's on the federal record near Tawas City
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Tawas City. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- ARTS CLEANERSBrownfields · 900 ft
- Bublitz - Tawas CityUnderground Storage Tanks · 1000 ft
- Elmer Erickson ExcavatingUnderground Storage Tanks · 1000 ft
- City Of Tawas City D.p.w.Underground Storage Tanks · 1100 ft
- TAWAS PLATING COToxics Release Inventory · 1600 ft
- TAWAS PLATING COBrownfields · 1600 ft
- ITT INDUSTRIES INC FHS-TAWAS CITY PLANTToxics Release Inventory · 1900 ft
- Inglis FordUnderground Storage Tanks · 2300 ft
- Marine-service StaUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- Dawn Donuts 22-688Underground Storage Tanks · 0.6 mi
- Colliers MarinaUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
- Cliffs MobilUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.7 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Tawas City'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 Tawas City.
Total Sites
120
within ~10 miles of Tawas City
Risk Level
Elevated
Highest-severity
1 Superfund site (none NPL-listed)
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Tawas City
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Tawas City
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.
- •TRI facilities report what they release. Check the wind — downwind beds catch more of it.
Check your specific parcel in Tawas City
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 Tawas City average
Your land is one point inside Tawas City
Everything above resolves to Tawas City 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 Tawas City Average
Tawas City Average
- ●USDA Zones 6a, averaged across Tawas City
- ●One soil character for all of Tawas City
- ●Frost dates read at Tawas City's scale: Apr 26 to Oct 21
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Tawas City's 6a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Tawas City
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Tawas City, Michigan — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Tawas City averages can't show:
We read public map data around Tawas City — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Tawas City average
How we know this about Tawas City
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 Tawas City’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 Tawas City
When does frost risk typically end in Tawas City?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Tawas City typically lands around Apr 26, 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 17.
When is the first frost in Tawas City?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Tawas City 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 178 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Tawas City?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Tawas City sees about 178 frost-free days — roughly Apr 26 through Oct 21, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 17 to Oct 7, about 143 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Tawas City?
The federal record around Tawas City is a meaningful one — 120 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (70), the nearest Brownfields 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 Tawas City?
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 Tawas City's scale — its 6a band and its 178-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Tawas City'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 Tawas City’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Tawas City's own scale — its own ~178-day season between 28°F freezes, the 1,087 acres it covers and 120 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Tawas City's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Tawas City's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 26 and Oct 21 and the ~178-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 120 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Tawas City, the closest Brownfields record about 0.2 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Tawas City's boundary and the 1,087 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6a and a ~178-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Tawas City'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 Tawas City's 1,087 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Iosco County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Iosco 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 Iosco County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Tawas City's 1,087 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Tawas City you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 1,087 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Brownfields 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 Tawas City-wide figureread your own land →
More in Michigan
Wider growing context
What grows across MichiganTawas City sits outside our named growing regions, so Michigan as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides