Tecumseh, Michigan, sits in USDA hardiness zone 6a — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
A short list that earns its place here — cabbage, hazelnut, lavender, and collard greens — with any one site's soil, sun, and drainage making the final cut.
Even in Tecumseh, 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 Tecumseh 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 Tecumseh — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
No card required · your full report in seconds
Tecumseh — the short answer
Tecumseh, Michigan: USDA zone 6a, about 188 days between hard freezes, across 4K acres of city.
- USDA zone
- 6a
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- Apr 19
- 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
- ~188
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- City area
- 4K 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 Tecumseh's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Tecumseh's 188-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Tecumseh
Each reading below is measured for Tecumseh itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredTecumseh runs about 188 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
MeasuredTecumseh 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 Tecumseh is in
Tecumseh sits in the Eastern Corn Belt Plains — EPA Level III, inside the wider Eastern Temperate Forests. That is read at Tecumseh's own centroid rather than borrowed from Lenawee County.
What Grows in Tecumseh
Every plant below cleared Tecumseh's own zone 6a and its 188-day season. Each card opens that plant's Michigan profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Tecumseh?
Usually not — gardeners here simply switch what goes in the ground as the season moves. Cool-season crops can go in from around Mar 22; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near Apr 19 (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.
Documented around Tecumseh
Spotted lanternfly documented 25 miles from Tecumseh, first recorded 2023. What to watch for.
What's on the federal record near Tecumseh
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Tecumseh. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- Beacon Oil CoUnderground Storage Tanks · 600 ft
- School Bus GarageUnderground Storage Tanks · 750 ft
- Gte 1430-001bUnderground Storage Tanks · 800 ft
- BAKER BROTHERSBrownfields · 850 ft
- B & K Tecumseh LLCUnderground Storage Tanks · 900 ft
- 05jonUnderground Storage Tanks · 1000 ft
- City Of TecumsehUnderground Storage Tanks · 1000 ft
- Perky Pantry EastUnderground Storage Tanks · 1400 ft
- Roadhouse CafeUnderground Storage Tanks · 1800 ft
- SPECTRON INDUSTRIESSuperfund · 2100 ft
- HERRICK MEMORIAL HOSPITAL INCBrownfields · 2200 ft
- Herrick Memorial HospitalUnderground Storage Tanks · 2200 ft
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Tecumseh'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 Tecumseh.
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Tecumseh
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Tecumseh
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Tecumseh, two things run higher than the national average within ~10 miles of Tecumseh — Superfund (5 sites) and Toxics Release Inventory (24 sites). It's not cause for alarm — it's worth knowing, and there's a sensible way to grow around it.
Superfund: Superfund sites represent the most severe contamination in the federal system.
Toxics Release Inventory: TRI facilities report annual chemical releases to air, water, and land.
Commission professional soil testing before any food production (test for heavy metals, VOCs, and SVOCs).
Check prevailing wind direction — downwind parcels face higher exposure than upwind or crosswind locations.
Check your specific parcel in Tecumseh
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 Tecumseh average
Your land is one point inside Tecumseh
Everything above resolves to Tecumseh as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 4K 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 Tecumseh Average
Tecumseh Average
- ●USDA Zones 6a, averaged across Tecumseh
- ●One soil character for all of Tecumseh
- ●Frost dates read at Tecumseh's scale: Apr 19 to Oct 24
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Tecumseh's 6a
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Tecumseh
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Tecumseh, Michigan — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Tecumseh averages can't show:
We read public map data around Tecumseh — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Tecumseh average
How we know this about Tecumseh
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 Tecumseh’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 Tecumseh
When does frost risk typically end in Tecumseh?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Tecumseh typically lands around Apr 19, 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 10.
When is the first frost in Tecumseh?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Tecumseh 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 188 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Tecumseh?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Tecumseh sees about 188 frost-free days — roughly Apr 19 through Oct 24, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer May 10 to Oct 10, about 153 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Tecumseh?
The federal record around Tecumseh is a meaningful one — 389 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (177), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.1 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 Tecumseh?
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 Tecumseh's scale — its 6a band and its 188-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Tecumseh'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 Tecumseh’s own scale
7 of the readings below were taken at Tecumseh's own scale — its own ~188-day season between 28°F freezes, the 3,615 acres it covers and 389 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Tecumseh's own USDA hardiness band, zones 6aUSDA PHZM 2023
- Tecumseh's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about Apr 19 and Oct 24 and the ~188-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 389 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Tecumseh, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.1 miles out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Tecumseh's boundary and the 3,615 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 6a and a ~188-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Tecumseh's own centroid, the Eastern Corn Belt PlainsUS EPA Level III Ecoregions
- A documented spotted-lanternfly record within reach of Tecumsehlydemapr (De Bona & Helmus), 10 km survey lattice
Inherited from a wider read
- Soil character — no town-scale survey exists, so Tecumseh's 3,615 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Lenawee County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Lenawee 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 Lenawee County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Tecumseh's 3,615 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Tecumseh you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 3,615 acresreading your own microclimate →
- How close that record sits to YOUR lot — the closest Underground Storage Tanks record about 0.1 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 Tecumseh-wide figureread your own land →
More in Michigan
Wider growing context
What grows across MichiganTecumseh sits outside our named growing regions, so Michigan as a whole is its closest context here.
Nearby growing guides