Fruit Trees for Ann Arbor, Livonia, Troy and Metro Detroit, Michigan

On February 20, 2015, NOAA's station at the Ann Arbor airport read −30°F. In the same cold snap the University of Michigan station, 6 miles away, bottomed out at −15°F and Detroit Metro Airport at −13°F. A 17°F spread inside one metro is most of the story for fruit trees for Ann Arbor, Livonia, Troy and Metro Detroit: where cold settles when the air goes still, where it drains off, and how the same ground behaves at bloom.

The map runs from downtown Detroit west through Dearborn, Livonia, Plymouth and Ypsilanti to Ann Arbor; north through Royal Oak, Birmingham, Troy and Rochester Hills to Pontiac and Clarkston; out into the Huron River lake country around Milford, South Lyon and Brighton; and south through Downriver to Belleville and Saline. Type your address in the box on the map to get the number for your own place, and the list of what we sell that has come through it.

How to read this map

The big number is the 30-year planning low, the number our cold hardiness calculator gives, adjusted for the ground around you. It's a safe number to plan on, not the record or a forecast. The MFTC zone puts it in half zones. The typical winter is an ordinary year's coldest night, the kind of average USDA builds its zones from. The spring layer reads degrees warmer or colder than downtown Ann Arbor on a still, clear night at bloom.

Downtown Ann Arbor, our reference, plans for −23°F, MFTC zone 4b, typical winter −9°F. The middle of the map's growing ground plans for −19°F (5a), and half of it falls between −22°F and −17°F, mild by our standards. The warm end is the inner suburbs and the Clinton River benches: Birmingham, Avon Hills Village and Kensington Forest in Rochester Hills, and Bald Mountain north of Auburn Hills plan for −13°F (5b), with Royal Oak, Troy and Midtown Detroit at −14°F. The cold end is the Huron headwaters. Lakeland, on the river in Hamburg Township, plans for −26°F (4a), the coldest of any named place we checked, and Brighton, Hamburg and Milford −25°F.

Why the map looks the way it does

There are two kinds of ground here. The southeast half is lake plain, the clay beds of the glacial lakes that came before Lake Erie, so flat the old USGS folio for Ann Arbor called it remarkably smooth. It tilts gently southeast to the Detroit River at 572 feet; Detroit's high point, a few blocks south of 8 Mile, is only 675 to 680 feet. Northwest of it come moraine ridges and, north of a line from South Lyon past Whitmore Lake, interlobate country full of kames, kettles and lakes at 900 to 1,100 feet (Oakland County alone has 387 lakes). The Huron winds through it all, with basins along it nearly 150 feet below the gravel plains beside them.

In winter the map runs 13°F from corner to corner, and the stations agree. On the year's coldest night the Ann Arbor airport runs a median 10°F colder than Detroit Metro and 11°F colder than Dearborn, and White Lake 4E, in the Oakland lakes, 8°F colder than Dearborn. Height alone doesn't do it: the Milford GM Proving Ground and the Oakland County airport at Pontiac both sit at about 970 feet, 15 miles apart, and Milford runs 6°F colder. NWS Detroit says freezes run less severe near the Great Lakes and from Detroit south along the Lake Erie shore. The city holds heat too, most on calm, clear nights, and the map gives built-up ground up to 2.5°F for it, though NWS Detroit found only a slight heat island in most years' freeze records.

The cold end is the shape of the ground. A kettle or closed hollow has no outlet, so on a still night it fills with cold air to its lowest notch and spills, and most of that cold is made right there as the ground loses heat to a clear sky. The three stations out in the lake country, at Milford, White Lake and Whitmore Lake, carry 30-year numbers of −24°F to −26°F. The lakes don't help much in midwinter: a lake only shelters its shore while it's open, and Whitmore Lake freezes hard enough to host the Michigan Pond Hockey Classic.

Ann Arbor's weather report shows how local this gets. The airport station south of town sits in a low, swampy spot where cold collects, and University of Michigan weather observer Dennis Kahlbaum told the Ann Arbor Observer in 2009 that a spot about 100 feet away can be 5°F or more warmer. NOAA station records agree: the airport runs a median 6°F colder than the University of Michigan station and 7°F colder than the Ann Arbor SE station 3 miles away. So a good chunk of the gap on the evening news is one wet hollow. Away from it the map plans downtown Ann Arbor 6°F to 9°F colder than Detroit's neighborhoods, still a real difference.

The spring layer turns the picture around. On a still bloom night most of Detroit, Dearborn and Livonia reads 2°F to 5°F colder than downtown Ann Arbor, though they plan 5°F to 9°F warmer in winter. Flat ground can't shed its cold, so the air chills where it sits. The warm readings are on ground with a drop below it: Pine Knob reads 10°F warmer, Haven Hill and Parishfield 9°F, Barton Hills 7°F. The cold ones are bottoms and draws, like The Green Landing in Northville (9°F colder) and Yates on the Clinton (8°F). The spring layer is built from the terrain, so it compares the lay of the land, not the regional calendar; the frost dates do that, and they put Detroit weeks ahead.

Ann Arbor, the Huron and the west side hills

Ann Arbor sits where the Huron cuts through the Fort Wayne Moraine: the river at about 750 feet, the courthouse about 90 feet above it, the west side up to 1,015 feet near Maple Road and Pauline Boulevard. Central and south Ann Arbor sit on flat outwash, and the ground north of and around the river is hilly. Downtown plans for −23°F; within 3 miles the floor plans −23°F and the benches −20°F. Kerrytown reads even with downtown at bloom, Germantown 2°F warmer, and the Old Fourth Ward, 70 feet up a 4 percent slope, plans −22°F and reads 5°F warmer. Burns Park plans −22°F, but its ground is nearly flat and it reads 3°F colder.

The west side runs a little milder. Lakewood, on a bench 100 feet above its floor, plans −21°F and reads even with downtown at bloom; Dicken, about 1.5 miles southeast, plans the same −21°F but reads 4°F colder; the spring layer, at full terrain strength, picks out differences the winter number smooths over. Barton Hills, on an 11 percent hillside 120 feet above its floor, plans −21°F and reads 7°F warmer, the best spring reading of any named place near town. Pittsfield Township, south of town, plans −23°F and reads 6°F colder, and Delhi Mills, on the Huron above town, −25°F. Saline plans −21°F and reads 2°F warmer.

On a downtown lot at −23°F, everything rated −25°F or colder clears: Blushingstar peach (it came through −25°F at our place on January 13, 2024 without damage), Hardired nectarine, Persimmon (Montana Trial). Baldwin apple (−20°F) is worth a try. Give the early bloomers the Barton Hills and Old Fourth Ward slopes: Harlayne apricot, Rainier cherry, Contender peach, all −30°F. Burns Park and the Pittsfield flats are apple and bush fruit ground: Northern Spy (−30°F), Golden Russet (−40°F), honeyberry (−50°F).

Ypsilanti, Ford Lake and Belleville

Ypsilanti sits at about 719 feet on the Huron, with Ford Lake on its south edge and below town the best remaining delta terrace from glacial Lake Whittlesey. It plans for −19°F (5a), typical −6°F, about 3°F milder than downtown Ann Arbor, and the river sets its spring picture. Depot Town, on the river bottom, plans −19°F and reads 5°F colder than downtown Ann Arbor at bloom. The Historic Eastside, 40 feet up a 5 percent bank a few blocks away, plans −18°F and reads 1°F warmer: 1°F apart in January, 6°F apart on a frosty bloom night. Willow Run plans −18°F; the Willow Run airport station's median last spring 32°F is May 2.

Ford Lake (975 acres) and Belleville Lake (about 1,270 acres) are dammed reservoirs about 30 feet deep at the east end; don't count on them for winter warmth. Belleville plans −20°F (4b) and reads 5°F colder at bloom. Bing (−20°F) clears the −18°F spots like the Eastside and Willow Run and is worth a try at −19°F to −21°F. Peaches and apricots go on the Eastside bank, not in Depot Town, and pears stay off the river bottom.

Detroit neighborhoods, Dearborn and Downriver

The map treats Detroit as one broad, mild floor. Midtown, Brush Park, New Center, Boston-Edison, Woodbridge, Palmer Woods and Sherwood Forest plan for −14°F (5b), typical −1°F to −2°F; Corktown and Mexicantown −15°F; Southwest Detroit −16°F. Going west it slips a couple of degrees, to −16°F (5a) in Grandmont and Rosedale Park and −17°F in Brightmoor.

Where Detroit yards differ is spring. Most neighborhoods read 2°F to 5°F colder than downtown Ann Arbor at bloom; Brush Park is the best at 2°F, and Brightmoor, right at its local floor, reads 8°F colder, the coldest of any Detroit neighborhood we checked. On ground this flat, small things count. Michigan State College's 1954 orchard folder said a rise of 4 or 5 feet in 100 is enough for air drainage, and a hedge, fence or garage across the low side of a yard can back cold air up into the trees above it. Core Orchards planted about 300 Honeycrisp trees on the east side in 2018, the first project under the city's 2016 urban agriculture ordinance; Honeycrisp has come through −45°F.

Dearborn sits where the Upper, Middle and Lower Rouge meet, at about 590 feet, and plans for −17°F (5a). West Dearborn's downtown reads only 1°F colder than downtown Ann Arbor at bloom, the Ford Homes Historic District 4°F colder. Downriver, Ecorse and Riverview plan −14°F (5b) and Sibley −13°F, and Sibley reads even with downtown Ann Arbor at bloom, the best Downriver spring reading we found; Wyandotte plans −16°F, Taylor −17°F. At −13°F to −17°F nearly the whole list clears, Bing, Santa Rosa plum and Arctic Glo nectarine (−20°F) included, and Chicago Hardy Fig (−10°F) is worth a try against a south or west wall in the −13°F to −15°F neighborhoods.

Livonia, Plymouth, Northville and Farmington

The Rouge drains the middle of the map in three branches, the Upper through Farmington Hills and Livonia, the Middle from Northville through Plymouth, the Lower through Canton and Wayne, with flat lake plain between. Livonia plans for −18°F (5a), typical −4°F, and it's about as uniform as ground gets: within 3 miles the floor and the warmest and coldest tenths all fall between −18°F and −19°F. It reads 3°F colder than downtown Ann Arbor at bloom. Westland plans −18°F, Canton −19°F, and Redford Township −19°F with a spring reading 6°F colder.

Plymouth, at 725 feet on the Middle Rouge, plans −20°F (5a) and reads 2°F colder at bloom. Northville, straddling 8 Mile at 831 feet, plans −20°F (4b) and reads 1°F warmer, and around Northville height pays. Grand View Acres, on a bench 150 feet above its floor, plans −18°F and reads 2°F warmer at bloom; The Green Landing, on river-bottom ground southeast of downtown, plans −21°F and reads 9°F colder, the coldest spring reading of any named place we checked. That's 3°F apart in winter and 11°F at bloom. Novi plans −20°F (5a).

The Farmington station read −18°F in February 2015. Farmington plans −17°F; its historic district, 80 feet above the floor, reads 2°F warmer than downtown Ann Arbor at bloom, and Farmington Acres down the hill 4°F colder. Quakertown in Farmington Hills, 130 feet up a 5 percent slope, plans −15°F and reads 4°F warmer. Those benches are for early bloomers: Tomcot apricot (−30°F), Glohaven peach (−25°F), Lapins cherry (−35°F), Harrow Sweet pear (−30°F). Livonia's flats suit apples and bush fruit.

Royal Oak, Birmingham, Troy and the Clinton River hills

North of 8 Mile the inner suburbs are some of the warmest built-up ground on the map. Royal Oak, Ferndale and Berkley plan for −14°F (5b), typical about −1°F. Birmingham plans −13°F (5b), and its downtown reads 2°F warmer than downtown Ann Arbor at bloom. Two neighbors show what a slope does in spring: flat Bloomfield Charter Township plans −16°F and reads 8°F colder at bloom, while Franklin, 120 feet above its floor on a 6 percent slope, plans −16°F and reads 6°F warmer. Troy plans −14°F (5b); its airport station and the Pontiac treatment plant station both carry 30-year numbers of −13°F, the mildest of any station on the map.

Farther north the ground along the Clinton and Paint Creek has real relief. Rochester, by the river, plans −16°F (5a). The Rochester Hills benches above it are some of the warmest ground on the map: Avon Hills Village and Kensington Forest, 120 feet above their floor, plan −13°F and read even with downtown Ann Arbor at bloom, and Brabach Orchards, 140 feet up, plans −14°F and reads 3°F warmer. Yates, on the Clinton bottom, plans −17°F and reads 8°F colder. Yates Cider Mill, on the Clinton in Rochester Hills, has pressed cider since 1876 and still presses with its 1894 water turbine.

Everything rated −20°F or colder clears here. Put the early bloomers on Franklin's slopes and the Rochester Hills benches: Tomcot apricot, Glowingstar peach (−25°F), Bing and Rainier cherries. If you're in Shelby Township, Utica or Romeo, the Port Huron, St. Clair and Blue Water shore map covers you.

Pontiac, Clarkston and the Oakland lakes

West of Pontiac the Clinton strings together the big lakes of central Oakland County: Cass Lake, 1,280 acres and 123 feet deep, and Orchard Lake, a 788-acre kettle 111 feet deep. Pontiac, at 922 feet, plans −15°F (5b), with benches within 3 miles at −12°F. Sylvan Lake plans −15°F, Keego Harbor −17°F, Orchard Lake Village −18°F.

West and north of the lakes it cools fast. Waterford, on its river bottom, plans −20°F (4b), and Union Lake −21°F with a spring reading 8°F colder. Clarkston, on the river bottom at 1,004 feet, plans −23°F (4b), and Springfield −24°F. The hills are the best spring ground we found: Waterford Hill, 150 feet above its floor, plans −19°F and reads 8°F warmer, and Pine Knob, 230 feet above its floor, plans −17°F and reads 10°F warmer, the warmest spring reading of any named place we checked. Around Pontiac and the lakes Bing clears; in Clarkston and Springfield stay with −25°F and colder and save early bloomers for a hillside.

Milford, South Lyon, Brighton and the Huron headwaters

The Huron rises in the Huron Swamp in Springfield Township and runs through Milford and a chain of lakes (Kent, Proud and Island) before heading for Dexter. Milford, at 945 feet with three ponds on the river, plans for −25°F (4b), typical −11°F, and reads 5°F colder at bloom. North of Milford, Haven Hill and Teeple Hill, about 150 feet above their floors, plan −22°F and −23°F and read 9°F warmer at bloom, while Seven Harbors, on the river bottom, plans −24°F and reads 5°F colder.

South Lyon plans −22°F (4b) and reads 3°F colder at bloom; Erwin's Orchards is here on Pontiac Trail. Whitmore Lake plans −23°F. Brighton, in a draw at 922 feet, plans −25°F (4a) and reads 7°F colder, while Brighton Township, on an 8 percent toe slope, plans about 1°F milder and reads 2°F warmer. Hamburg plans −25°F (4a), Lakeland on the river −26°F, and Parishfield, 140 feet up an 8 percent hillside, −22°F with a spring reading 9°F warmer.

On these floors, plan with what's rated −30°F or colder: Haralson (−45°F), Honeycrisp, Northern Spy, Montmorency tart cherry (−35°F), and on the slopes Toka (−45°F) and Superior (−35°F) plums and Luscious pear (−40°F). Veteran (−30°F) and Siberian C (−35°F) peaches clear the winter low, and so does Blushingstar (−30°F), but give them a hillside like Parishfield. North toward Fenton and Holly, the Lansing, Flint and Owosso map covers you.

Spring frost and bloom in Southeast Michigan

NOAA station records, 1991 to 2020 medians (last 32°F, last 28°F, a late year's last 32°F, frost-free days):

• Detroit City Airport, just off the map's east edge: April 16, April 6, May 1; 193 days.
• Detroit Metro Airport: April 19, April 6, May 13; 184 days.
• University of Michigan, Ann Arbor: April 28, April 14, May 14; 168 days.
• Milford GM Proving Ground: May 9, April 27, May 26; 153 days.
• Ann Arbor airport: May 14, April 30, May 24; 143 days.

Open blossoms of nearly every tree fruit start dying near 28°F, according to Michigan State's fruit people, and the University of Minnesota says only about 15 percent of apple blossoms need to set for a crop. The year that took it all was 2012. March averaged 50.7°F, 14.2°F above normal, apple blossoms opened about three weeks early, at least 15 frost and freeze events followed, and nearly all the blossoms and young fruit in Washtenaw County were killed. At Erwin's Orchards it sat at 23°F for six hours on April 29, and the farm lost its whole 175-acre apple crop for the first time. The Kapnick family had bought the highest land they could find near Britton, just southwest of the map, to cut frost risk, and still lost 60 to 70 percent of their apples.

Site still decides most years. NWS Detroit says some places freeze when Detroit reads 34°F to 35°F; those are the bottoms and flats that read cold on the spring layer. Put apricots, peaches and sweet cherries on ground with a drop below it, apples, haskap (open flowers take 19°F) and currants lower, and pears, which bloom early, off the bottoms. Mow short through bloom, don't till, and open any hedge or fence that dams cold air at the low end of the yard.

What the weather records say

NOAA station records give the Ann Arbor airport −30°F on February 20, 2015 and Milford −27°F the same day. Older cold came on February 5, 1918 (Willow Run airport −25°F, Pontiac −22°F). Detroit Metro Airport's record is −21°F (January 21, 1984), and the University of Michigan station's −22°F and Dearborn's −20°F both come from January 19, 1994. In the December 2017 cold snap both Detroit airports read −4°F and the Ann Arbor airport −20°F; spreads that wide come on still, clear nights. Snowfall runs from about 58 to 61 inches a year in Ann Arbor to 42.5 inches in Detroit; snow over the roots helps, and bare frozen ground in a hard cold snap is what hurts them.

One listing puts Detroit and the close-in suburbs in USDA zone 6b and the outer north and west suburbs in 6a. USDA's map is built on the average winter, ours on the bad night you plan for: Detroit and the inner Oakland suburbs are 5b to 5a on our map, Livonia and Ypsilanti 5a, Ann Arbor and South Lyon 4b, Brighton and Hamburg 4a.

What you can grow here

Most of the plant list clears winter here. The coldest named place we checked plans for −26°F, and nearly everything we sell has come through colder, so the choice is mostly about site and bloom timing.

Detroit, Downriver, Dearborn and the inner Oakland suburbs, −13°F to −17°F. Everything rated −20°F or colder: Bing, Santa Rosa, Flavortop nectarine, St. Edmund's Pippin apple, every peach we sell, Cox Orange Pippin (−35°F), Concorde pear (−30°F), Montana Trial Pawpaw (−30°F); Chicago Hardy Fig is worth a try on a south wall where it plans −15°F or warmer.

Ann Arbor, Ypsilanti, Livonia, Plymouth, Northville, Novi, Clarkston and Saline, −18°F to −23°F. Everything rated −25°F or colder: Glockenapfel apple, Blushingstar and Redstar peaches, Red Gold nectarine, Stella cherry, Goldrich apricot (−30°F), Stanley plum (−30°F), Seckel pear (−35°F). Baldwin apple, Bing and the −20°F nectarines clear the warm end of this band and are worth a try at its cold end.

Milford, Brighton, Hamburg, Green Oak and Hartland, −24°F to −26°F. Rated −30°F or colder: Liberty apple (−35°F), Red Lake currant (−40°F), and on the hills Contender, Veteran, Blushingstar and Siberian C peaches, Gold and Lapins cherries (−35°F), Westcot apricot (−45°F), Toka and Superior plums and Summercrisp pear (−45°F). The −25°F list is worth a try on high ground.

Most plums and apples need a second variety nearby; Toka is a good pollenizer for Superior, and our pollination maps show the other pairings. Pick a slope with a clear outlet below, east-facing if you can, with at least 6 hours of direct sun and no dense brush across the bottom. Much of the lake plain is heavy clay, so test drainage: dig a hole 2 feet deep, fill it, let it drain, fill it again, and under 10 hours is well drained. Roots are the weak link in a hard winter; snow protects them, so mulch the root zone if a cold snap comes without snow. On the 4a and 4b ground, taper water from mid-August so trees harden off. The local troubles on record are false springs, summer drought (2012 had both) and peach leaf curl, noted around Ann Arbor in 1892.

Fruit history here

The French who founded Detroit in 1701 planted orchards and pressed cider from native crab apples, and by the 1730s Detroit cider was exported. In 1833 Ezra and Z.K. Lay brought 25,000 fruit trees from New York and started a nursery in Ypsilanti, and the 1860 agricultural census ranked Washtenaw first in Michigan for orchard products. The county had 102 cider mills running in 1909, before Michigan banned alcohol sales in May 1918 and pests, west Michigan competition and the Depression thinned the orchards. A 1940 aerial photo still shows big orchards on Broadway Hill and along Traver, Sunset and Newport roads in Ann Arbor, and the Ann Arbor Observer calls Dexter Cider Mill (1886) Michigan's oldest continuously operated cider mill.

Questions people ask

What growing zone is Ann Arbor?

Downtown Ann Arbor plans for −23°F, MFTC zone 4b, with a typical winter of −9°F; the west side benches and Barton Hills plan for −21°F, and the Huron bottoms around Delhi Mills −25°F. USDA's zones read warmer because they're built on the average winter, and the airport station has seen −30°F.

What hardiness zone is Detroit?

Detroit's neighborhoods plan for −14°F to −17°F on our map, MFTC zone 5b to 5a, with typical winters of about −1°F to −4°F. One listing puts the city and close-in suburbs in USDA zone 6b; USDA's is based on an average winter, ours on the night you plan for.

Why is Ann Arbor so much colder than Detroit?

Part of it is the thermometer: the Ann Arbor airport station sits in a low, swampy spot and runs a median 10°F colder than Detroit Metro Airport and 6°F colder than the University of Michigan station. The rest is real. Ann Arbor is higher, farther from the big lakes and the city, and cut by the Huron valley, so the map plans it at −23°F against −14°F to −17°F across Detroit.

When is the last frost in Detroit?

The 1991 to 2020 median last 32°F is April 16 at Detroit City Airport and April 19 at Detroit Metro (NOAA station records); one year in ten it comes as late as May 1 and May 13. In Ann Arbor it's April 28 at the University of Michigan station and May 14 at the airport.

Can you grow peaches in Southeast Michigan?

Yes. Every peach we sell clears Detroit's −14°F to −17°F, Redstar (−25°F) clears Ann Arbor's −23°F, and Blushingstar, Veteran (both −30°F) and Siberian C (−35°F) clear Milford and Brighton. Bloom is the risk, as 2012 showed, so give them a slope with a drop below it.

Does pawpaw grow wild near Ann Arbor?

A Southeast Michigan grower reported two wild pawpaw populations near Ann Arbor on the NAFEX list in 2011, and the native range reaches north to about the latitude of Lake St. Clair. Montana Trial Pawpaw has come through −30°F, which clears every planning low we checked on this map.

Warmer spots, colder spots

Here's the number to plan for at named places on the map, warmest first. Each one is the 1-in-30-year low for that spot: the cold hardiness calculator's number from the same weather stations, sharpened by our microclimate model for the ground right there. Zone is our MFTC zone, set by that one bad night, not by an average.

The weather stations behind it

These are the long-record stations in and around this map, with each one's own numbers since the winter of 1995-96. The last column is this map's 30-year number right at the station, which won't match the station exactly: it's a blend of the stations around it, the way the calculator works everywhere.

Source: NOAA records through ACIS, winters 1995-96 through 2025-26. What the "carried forward," "gaps filled" and AWOS rows mean is explained in how our microclimate maps work.