Wolverine, Michigan, sits in USDA hardiness zone 4b — a zone band wide enough that plant choice, not possibility, is the interesting question.
These conditions suit cabbage, cranberry, cilantro, and collard greens — a starting list any specific site will trim or extend with its own soil, sun, and drainage.
Even in Wolverine, 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 Wolverine 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 Wolverine — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
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Wolverine — the short answer
Wolverine, Michigan: USDA zone 4b, about 140 days between hard freezes, across 629 acres of town.
- USDA zone
- 4b
- USDA PHZM 2023
- Last hard freeze (28°F)
- May 18
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- First hard freeze (28°F)
- Oct 5
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Days between freezes
- ~140
- NOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals, 28°F — this town
- Town area
- 629 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 4b is Wolverine's average, not your lot's — a low corner or a tree line moves it. Against Wolverine's 140-day season, see what your own ground reads.
Soil varies lot by lot — soil types explained.
What this means for growing in Wolverine
Each reading below is measured for Wolverine itself — here is what it means for a garden here, and the move an experienced grower makes about it.
Season length
MeasuredWolverine runs about 140 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
MeasuredWolverine sits in USDA hardiness zone 4b.
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 Wolverine is in
Wolverine sits in the Northern Lakes and Forests — EPA Level III, inside the wider Northern Forests. That is read at Wolverine's own centroid rather than borrowed from Cheboygan County.
What Grows in Wolverine
Every plant below cleared Wolverine's own zone 4b and its 140-day season. Each card opens that plant's Michigan profile. How we score.
Is it too late to plant in Wolverine?
Almost never — the real question is what to plant next. Cool-season crops can go in from around Apr 20; tender transplants wait until two to three weeks after the last 28°F hard freeze, which lands near May 18 (NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals); and from midsummer, planting counts back from the first fall freeze around Oct 5 — long-season crops need about 90 days of runway, quick greens only 30. Short seasons reward decisiveness — quick-maturing varieties late, hardy greens under cover, and next year’s garlic in the ground before it closes.
What's on the federal record near Wolverine
Closest first, within ~10 miles of Wolverine. Listing isn't leaking, and distance isn't exposure.
- Wolverine Shell #2719Underground Storage Tanks · 500 ft
- Wolverine Community SchoolsUnderground Storage Tanks · 550 ft
- WOLVERINE CABINET COMPANYBrownfields · 550 ft
- Dairy Barn RestaurantUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.5 mi
- WOLVERINE AUTO CAREBrownfields · 0.5 mi
- B. Patrick SchultaUnderground Storage Tanks · 0.8 mi
- Robert R. BolingerUnderground Storage Tanks · 2.3 mi
- Jack A BoydUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.1 mi
- MI DEPT/TRANSPORTATION BRIDGE - S01/S02-16093Brownfields · 3.4 mi
- Mattson & Sons Well DrillingUnderground Storage Tanks · 3.4 mi
- ENBRIDGE ENERGY LIMITED PARTNERSHIPBrownfields · 4.2 mi
- Private ResidenceUnderground Storage Tanks · 5.9 mi
6 more sites are on the record inside the same radius. See them on the map
Measured from Wolverine'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 Wolverine.
Total Sites
65
within ~10 miles of Wolverine
Risk Level
Moderate
Highest-severity
1 Toxics Release Inventory facility
Sources Checked
within ~10 miles of Wolverine
Severity Distribution
within ~10 miles of Wolverine
Highest-Severity Sites
A note from Gnorman
What an experienced grower watches for around here
In and around Wolverine, Underground Storage Tanks runs higher than the national average — 45 sites within ~10 miles of Wolverine. That's not a problem with your land — it's information about it.
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 Wolverine
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 Wolverine average
Your land is one point inside Wolverine
Everything above resolves to Wolverine as a whole — one PHZM band and one 28°F frost record, read across 629 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 Wolverine Average
Wolverine Average
- ●USDA Zones 4b, averaged across Wolverine
- ●One soil character for all of Wolverine
- ●Frost dates read at Wolverine's scale: May 18 to Oct 5
YOUR Parcel
- ✓Your exact zone, not Wolverine's 4b
- ✓Your SSURGO soil type & pH
- ✓Your sun exposure, cast in 3D
See MY Growing Report
Read your specific parcel in Wolverine
Pull a site-specific report for your exact address in Wolverine, Michigan — soil, sun, drainage, frost risk, and scored plant recommendations.
Three things about your lot that Wolverine averages can't show:
We read public map data around Wolverine — soil, climate, flood, and parcel records. How we handle your address.
25+ data sources read at your address, not the Wolverine average
How we know this about Wolverine
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 Wolverine’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 Wolverine
When does frost risk typically end in Wolverine?
The last hard freeze (28°F) in Wolverine typically lands around May 18, 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 8.
When is the first frost in Wolverine?
The first hard freeze (28°F) in Wolverine typically arrives around Oct 5, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals — the point tender summer crops finish. Lighter frosts run ahead of it, near Sep 21, so the watching starts about Sep 5 — about 140 days after the spring freeze cleared.
How long is the growing season in Wolverine?
Measured between 28°F hard freezes, Wolverine sees about 140 frost-free days — roughly May 18 through Oct 5, per NOAA 1991–2020 climate normals. Tender crops work a shorter one: nearer Jun 8 to Sep 21, about 105 days.
Is the soil safe to grow vegetables in Wolverine?
The federal record around Wolverine shows 65 documented sites, mostly Underground Storage Tanks entries (45), the nearest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out — a typical footprint for a growing area, and proximity to a documented site is information, not a diagnosis of any one yard. It's worth seeing which recorded sites sit closest to where you grow, and testing the soil before new food beds near any of them.
How do gardeners stretch the season in Wolverine?
With about 140 frost-free days between hard freezes, Wolverine 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 168 to 196 days — and cold frames or low tunnels buy more. Starting transplants indoors ahead of the May 18 hard-freeze normal stretches the season without touching the calendar.
Everything above is measured at Wolverine's scale — its 4b band and its 140-day season. Your yard writes its own version of Wolverine'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 Wolverine’s own scale
6 of the readings below were taken at Wolverine's own scale — its own ~140-day season between 28°F freezes, the 629 acres it covers and 65 documented sites around it; 4 are borrowed from a wider read, named and linked below.
Measured here
- Wolverine's own USDA hardiness band, zones 4bUSDA PHZM 2023
- Wolverine's own 28°F hard-freeze dates, about May 18 and Oct 5 and the ~140-day span between themNOAA 1991–2020 Climate Normals
- 65 documented contamination sites on the federal record near Wolverine, the closest Underground Storage Tanks record under a tenth of a mile out from the town centreFederal environmental registers
- Wolverine's boundary and the 629 acres inside itUS Census TIGER/Line 2025
- Which of 1,086 plants clear zones 4b and a ~140-day seasonGrowable Ground crop-matching engine
- The ecoregion at Wolverine'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 Wolverine's 629 acres read through its county's SSURGO summaryfrom Cheboygan County
- Growing-degree days and winter chill — measured county-wide only, so the county page carries themfrom Cheboygan 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 Cheboygan County
What this page can’t tell you
- The soil pH, drainage, sun hours, and frost pockets on any one lot among Wolverine's 629 acreswhy one lot differs from the next →
- Which side of Wolverine you're on — a low spot frosts first and a south wall warms early, and one normal is being asked to speak for all 629 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 Wolverine-wide figureread your own land →