Fruit Trees for Marquette, Ishpeming and Negaunee, Michigan

On February 24, 2015, the NOAA station at Clarksburg, northwest of Ishpeming, read −38°F, the coldest on its record. In that same cold snap the Marquette station, on the Lake Superior shore, bottomed out at −13°F. That 25°F spread is the first thing to know about fruit trees for Marquette, Ishpeming and Negaunee, in Michigan's Upper Peninsula: the lake keeps the shore mild, and the climb of 750 to 950 feet onto the Marquette Iron Range takes you out of its reach. This map covers the shore from Wetmore Landing through Marquette and Harvey to Green Garden and Mangum, inland up the Carp River to Negaunee, Ishpeming and Greenwood, and south over Sands and Palmer to the edge of the Sands Plains at K.I. Sawyer.

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 same number our cold hardiness calculator uses, built from NOAA station records since the 1995-96 winter with a small nudge for the lay of the land. It leans cold: a safe number to plan around, not the record. The MFTC zone is that number in half zones. The typical winter is an average year's coldest night, the kind of average USDA's zones are built on, which is why USDA zones read warmer than ours. The spring layer shows how many degrees warmer or colder a spot runs than Marquette on a still, clear night at bloom.

Downtown Marquette plans for −18°F (MFTC 5a) with a typical winter of −7°F, among the warmest numbers on the map. The middle of the growing ground plans for about −31°F, just on the 3b side of the line with 4a, and half of it falls between −33°F and −26°F. Ishpeming plans for −34°F and Negaunee −33°F (both 3b), Sands −29°F (4a), and the cold end, west of Ishpeming, −38°F at South Greenwood (MFTC 3a).

Why the map looks the way it does

Two things set this map: Lake Superior and the climb onto the range. Below about 660 feet the lake's water stays near 39°F all year, it freezes over completely only about once in 20 winters, and in early January most of it is still open. Open water is a heat source on a winter night; a 1997 study of the Great Lakes put the effect at up to 14.4°F on mean winter lows over Lake Superior. The lake also adds cloud over Marquette in fall and winter, and a low cloud deck cuts the ground's nighttime heat loss by roughly 85 to 90 percent (the FAO's frost protection manual). Over 63 years the NWS office in Negaunee Township, at 1,415 feet and about 8 miles inland, has run a median 11°F colder on the year's coldest night than the Marquette station at 613 feet; the old Ishpeming station ran 9°F colder over 77 years.

Height alone doesn't make a place cold on a still night; height above the nearest low ground matters more. The climb takes you out of the lake's reach onto an upland of knobs, lakes and floors where the cold gets made in place: on a clear, calm night the ground radiates its heat to the sky, chilled air slides off the hills, and it settles on the floors, right where the range towns were built. Ishpeming sits 10 feet above its local floor and plans for −34°F; within 3 miles the floor runs −35°F and the benches −31°F, and Negaunee is the same. That gap of about 4°F is the thermal belt, where warmer air rides over the cold pool. A Hungarian study of 69 clear, calm nights found a valley floor averaged 6.7°F colder than a slope 230 feet higher, and the range is full of floors like that.

The old stations show how much low spots matter. Dukes, a Marquette County community at 1,100 feet on the map's edge, sits about 340 feet below the old Ishpeming station, yet in its 14 years on file (1928 to 1941) it ran −42°F against Ishpeming's −31°F on February 9, 1934, with an average yearly low of −29°F against −21°F. That looks like a cold-air pool beating elevation.

The lake's help also depends on the night. The range's worst mornings tend to come when the shore stays mild: on January 9, 1977 the NWS office read −32°F and Marquette −12°F. The shore's worst look different. On February 9, 1933, when the Marquette station set its record of −26°F, Ishpeming read −12°F, and on January 17, 1982 Marquette read −21°F against −25°F to −26°F on the range. The station files don't record the wind, so we can't say for sure why, but on a still, clear night the range pools while the shore sits in air off open water, and arctic air arriving on a wind mixes the whole county together. So the lake buys the shore a lot in an ordinary winter (13°F between Marquette's and Ishpeming's typical winters), and on some of the worst nights much less.

Snow is the range's saving grace. Northeast winds push lake air up into what NWS Marquette calls the Negaunee and Ishpeming highlands, so the office averages around 196 to 203 inches a season (sources differ), against about 149 inches in the city. Snow makes the air above it colder, but it's a blanket for roots: NDSU measured soil a foot down under snow at 31°F with the air at 4°F. Bare frozen ground is what kills roots, and the range's snow cover is deep and reliable.

Marquette: downtown, the harbors and Marquette Mountain

Downtown Marquette, at 655 feet, about 50 feet above the lake and 60 feet above its local floor, plans for −18°F (MFTC 5a). It's shoreline ground in the big-water belt, from the Lower Harbor and the old Ore Dock around to Presque Isle Park, and the built-up core gets a small credit for pavement and buildings (the general rule for towns; nobody has measured Marquette's). Within 3 miles the warmest tenth of the growing ground plans for −19°F, the benches −22°F, the floor −23°F and the coldest tenth −24°F. The colder ground lies back from the water: the Dead River comes in from the McCormick Wilderness on the north side and the Carp River from Negaunee on the south, and on a still night their bottoms carry cold air down from inland and hold it.

Marquette Mountain, the ski hill on the south side of the city with about 600 feet of vertical, is some of the best bloom-night ground in town. At 490 feet above the floor it plans for −21°F and reads 8°F warmer than Marquette on a still spring night, because cold air slides off a 20 percent slope and keeps going.

One caution for the shore. The Marquette station's own 30-year number is −19°F, close to the map's, yet it read −24°F on February 3, 1996. That's 16°F below its average winter low of about −8°F, a bigger gap than the 12°F at the NWS office, so in town I'd pick trees rated at least 5°F colder than the number. That still leaves a long list, starting with Lapins sweet cherry (−35°F), Contender peach (−30°F, the only commercial peach we know of that has taken −32°F) and Superior plum (−35°F). Blushingstar peach (−25°F) came through −25°F at our place on January 13, 2024 without damage; give it a spot within a few feet of a south wall. And yes, the Marquette grape (−35°F) clears Marquette with 17°F to spare.

Marquette Township: Trowbridge Park, Brookton Corners and the north shore

West of the city, Marquette Township rises off the lake toward Hogback Mountain and the Huron Mountains. Trowbridge Park, on a bench 150 feet above the floor, plans for −22°F (MFTC 4b) and reads the same as Marquette on a spring night. Just under a mile south, Brookton Corners, the retail cluster around the Westwood Mall, also plans for −22°F, but it sits in a draw and reads 6°F colder at bloom: cold air off the higher ground funnels down low ground like that on its way to the lake. Near Trowbridge Park the low ground actually runs a little warmer than the benches (−22°F against −25°F); this close to the lake, distance from the water can beat height.

North along the shore, Sugar Loaf plans for −22°F and reads about the same as Marquette at bloom, and Wetmore Landing, low by the water, plans for −23°F and reads 3°F colder. Freeman Landing, on a 27 percent slope 120 feet above the floor, plans for −22°F and reads 8°F warmer, because cold drains straight off that slope to the lake. Sugarloaf Mountain (−21°F) and Hogback Mountain (−25°F) read 7°F to 8°F warmer. Forestville, on the Dead River on a bench 190 feet above the floor, plans for −25°F and reads 2°F warmer.

Trowbridge Park's bench and the slopes above the north shore are some of the best sweet cherry and apricot ground on the map: −21°F to −25°F in winter and warm at bloom. Stella and Skeena sweet cherries and Goldrich and Tomcot apricots (all −30°F) clear the number by 5°F or more. In the Brookton Corners draw, lean toward apples.

Harvey, Lakewood and Chocolay Township

Southeast of the city, Harvey sits on the lake 50 feet above its floor, where the Chocolay River runs along the east edge of town to its mouth. Harvey plans for −21°F (MFTC 4b) with a typical winter of −10°F and reads the same as Marquette in spring; within 3 miles the floor runs −24°F and the coldest tenth −26°F. The Chocolay bottom is the cold ground: the north part of the Sands Plains drains to the Chocolay, and on a still night its valley carries cold air down from the higher country to the south.

Lakewood, on low ground just east of Harvey, plans for −22°F but reads 5°F colder than Marquette at bloom, and Beaver Grove, 2 miles farther southeast and 10 feet above its floor, plans for −24°F and reads 5°F colder too. Inland on a bench 180 feet above the floor, Green Garden plans for −25°F, colder in winter because it's farther from the lake, but only 1°F colder than Marquette at bloom because the cold drains off it. Mangum, at the east end on a toe slope, plans for −27°F and reads 7°F colder. Lapins, Rainier (−30°F), Superior and Bartlett pear (−35°F) clear all of these; on the Lakewood and Beaver Grove flats, put the early bloomers on the highest corner you've got.

Negaunee, Teal Lake and the climb from Marquette

Negaunee sits on the east shore of Teal Lake at 1,362 feet, on a toe slope 40 feet above the floor. It plans for −33°F (MFTC 3b) with a typical winter of −20°F and reads 9°F colder than Marquette on a spring night. Within 3 miles the benches run −31°F and the floor −35°F. Teal Lake covers 466 acres but is only 32 feet at its deepest, the kind of shallow lake that freezes early and stops helping by midwinter. The NWS office in Negaunee Township, with the best long record up here, has a 30-year number of −32°F, and the map reads −31°F at the station. Coming up from Marquette, Eagle Mills, 4 miles east of Negaunee, plans for −33°F and reads 11°F colder than Marquette at bloom; Beverly Hills, a mile north of town on the floor, plans for −33°F and reads 8°F colder.

At −33°F, Negaunee is apple, pear, plum and tart cherry country. Honeycrisp, Haralson and Frostbite (−45°F), Zestar!® (−40°F), Cold Snap® pear (−40°F), Toka plum (−45°F) and Evan's Bali tart cherry (−45°F) all have room. Lapins, Superior and Bartlett (−35°F) clear the town number by 2°F, so they belong on the benches, not the floor.

Ishpeming, Lake Angeline and the west end of the range

Ishpeming, 15 miles west of Marquette, is built in the bottom: the map puts the center at 1,415 feet and 10 feet above its floor. It plans for −34°F (MFTC 3b) with a typical winter of −20°F and reads 10°F colder than Marquette on a still spring night. The wastewater plant station, open since 2008, has bottomed out at −30°F (February 2015), but its 30-year number is −36°F, the coldest of any station in the map, and the old Ishpeming station hit −34°F on February 17, 1979, so the town's number isn't a stretch.

Just south of downtown, Lake Angeline plans for −35°F and reads 11°F colder than Marquette at bloom. Salisbury and Winthrop Junction, in the river bottom, plan for −34°F and −35°F and read 11°F colder too, the coldest spring readings of any place we've named; National Mine plans for −34°F and reads 9°F colder. Pilot Knob, the hill on the northwest side of town, is only 50 feet above the floor, yet it plans for about −33°F and reads just 2°F colder than Marquette at bloom. North Lake, on a bench 110 feet above the floor, plans for −33°F and reads 3°F colder, one of the better spring spots on the range.

Greenwood, 4 miles west of Ishpeming on the floor, plans for −36°F (MFTC 3a), and South Greenwood −38°F with a typical winter of −24°F, the coldest of any place we've named. That's what Clarksburg hit in February 2015, and Clarksburg's frost-free season runs just 87 days. Out here plan on the −40°F list and colder; Kerr (−50°F) and Trailman (−60°F) applecrabs are the ones I'd plant if you only plant one tree. Farther northwest, our Houghton, Hancock and the Keweenaw map takes over.

Sands, Palmer, Cascade and the Sands Plains

South of Marquette the land climbs onto the Sands Plains, glacial outwash sand (Rubicon, Grayling and Croswell sands) with jack pine, rock knobs and leatherleaf bogs in the low spots. Sands, about 8 miles south of the city on a bench 200 feet above its floor, plans for −29°F (MFTC 4a) with a typical winter of −17°F, and reads only 1°F colder than Marquette at bloom; within 3 miles the floor runs −31°F. Cascade, on the floor, plans for −32°F and reads 10°F colder at bloom. Low, peaty spots like the leatherleaf bogs are frost-prone ground: they sit low, and organic soil gives back little heat on a still night.

At K.I. Sawyer, the old Air Force base airmen called "K. I. Siberia" for its lake-effect snow, the airport station's 30-year number is −31°F and the map reads −29°F. West toward the range, Palmer, near the Empire Mine, sits on the floor at 1,295 feet, plans for about −34°F and reads 11°F colder than Marquette at bloom. Get up on the hills between Palmer and Sands and the picture changes: Wewe Hills, 390 feet above the floor, plans for −29°F and reads 7°F warmer than Marquette at bloom, about 18°F better than Palmer on a still spring night, and Ragged Hills plans for −28°F and reads 2°F warmer.

The sand is the other story. Michigan State's geographers say fruit wants sandy loam that holds enough clay to avoid drought stress, and outwash sand doesn't, so trees on the plain need drip irrigation and mulch. That acid sand is wild blueberry ground (the DNR still burns openings on the plain to keep the blueberries producing), and our Cold Climate Blueberry Bundle (−40°F) clears every number out there. For Iron Mountain and Kingsford, southwest toward the Wisconsin line, see our Iron Mountain, Kingsford and the Menominee River map.

Spring frost and bloom on the shore and the range

NOAA station records for 1991 to 2020 put the median last 32°F spring frost at the Marquette station on May 4 (one year in ten as late as May 26) and the last 28°F on April 24. At the NWS office it's May 22, with the last 28°F on May 11; at Clarksburg, June 9 and May 23. The first fall 32°F comes October 27 in Marquette, September 29 at the office and September 11 at Clarksburg, for frost-free seasons of 170, 124 and 87 days. The climb costs 46 days of season at the office and 83 at Clarksburg.

In spring the cold lake holds the shore back, the classic fruit-belt effect that keeps bloom waiting until the worst frost has passed. GLISA's Marquette record shows winters warming 3.1°F since 1951 but springs only 0.4°F; they don't say why, but a lake that cold is the obvious suspect. In 2014 ice chunks were still floating off Marquette on June 1.

Open blossoms of apple, pear, cherry, peach, apricot and plum all start dying at about 28°F (Michigan State's fruit people). The week ending May 9, 2004, Marquette itself hit 25°F, and the NWS office's record May low is 13°F (1960).

So on the range, site is everything. The spring layer reads 9°F to 11°F colder than Marquette on the floors around Ishpeming, Negaunee, Palmer and Cascade, and NC State's fruit people say 3°F to 4°F can separate no crop from a full one. Put apricots, plums and sweet cherries on the ground that reads warm (Wewe Hills, North Lake, Pilot Knob, the slopes above the shore) and apples and haskap lower. Only about 15 percent of apple blossoms need to set for a crop, and fully open haskap flowers take 19°F. Most fruit can lose half its blossoms or more and still crop fine; grapes, which bear in clusters, forgive less. A hedge across a slope backs cold air up into the trees above it, so open a gap at the low end.

What the weather records say

Coldest readings on file in NOAA station records: the Marquette station (133 years) −26°F on February 9, 1933; the NWS office (66 years) and the old Ishpeming station (77 years) both −34°F on February 17, 1979, when Marquette read −23°F; Clarksburg (21 years) −38°F on February 24, 2015; Dukes (14 years) −42°F on February 9, 1934; and Humboldt (19 years, ending 1928) −49°F on February 7, 1899. Over the whole record the Marquette station's average yearly low is −11°F, the office's and Ishpeming's −21°F and Clarksburg's −29°F.

We didn't find a solid source for USDA's 2023 zone town by town here, so we won't guess. USDA's zones are built on the average winter's coldest night, the kind of number the map's typical winter shows (−7°F in Marquette, −20°F in Ishpeming), and our planning low runs 11°F to 14°F colder than that. NOAA station records show the worst night in about 30 winters runs a median 13°F below a station's average winter low, and that's the night we plan for.

What you can grow here

Marquette, Harvey and the lakeshore: −18°F to −23°F

With the 1996 and 1933 nights in mind, pick from −25°F and colder: Lapins, Gold, Rainier and Stella sweet cherries; Contender and Siberian C (−35°F) peaches, with Blushingstar on a south wall; Harlayne, Goldrich and Tomcot apricots; Bartlett and D'Anjou (−30°F) pears; Superior and Italian (−35°F) plums; Liberty (−30°F) and Honeycrisp apples; and Marquette and Frontenac (−35°F) grapes. Lake summers are cool, so I'd lean toward early and midseason apples.

Chocolay's benches, the north-shore hills and Sands: −24°F to −30°F

Lapins and Gold sweet cherries; Siberian C peach, with Contender right at the cold end; Zard (−35°F) and Westcot (−45°F) apricots on ground that reads warm at bloom; Superior and Italian plums; Bartlett pear; Haralson, Honeycrisp and Liberty apples; Evan's Bali and Montmorency (−30°F) tart cherries; and blueberries on the plain's acid sand.

Negaunee, Ishpeming, Palmer and the range floors: −31°F to −35°F

Honeycrisp, Haralson, Frostbite and Zestar!® apples; Cold Snap®, Luscious and Summercrisp (−40°F) pears; Toka and Pipestone (−40°F) plums; Evan's Bali and Meteor (−40°F) tart cherries; Lapins and Superior only on the benches; and the bush fruit, honeyberry (−50°F), Red Lake currant and Pixwell gooseberry (−40°F), which all came through the 2026 spring frosts well at our place.

Greenwood, South Greenwood and the coldest bottoms: −36°F to −38°F

Kerr, Trailman and Centennial (−50°F) applecrabs; Haralson and Frostbite apples; Bolshaya (−50°F) pear; Brookgold (−50°F) and Toka plums; Evan's Bali tart cherry; Juliet (−50°F) dwarf cherry; honeyberry and Montana Black Currant (−50°F). Ed Schultz saw zero winter injury on Centennial after a winter that hit −47°F.

Roots, site and the local problems

Roots are the weak link, and snow protects them: at Ed Schultz's farm in Gallatin Gateway, Montana, Bud 118 apple rootstock has seen near −50°F under snow with no damage. Plowed lots and windswept knobs lose their snow, so mulch those. Young trees are the touchy ones: in a cider trial at Germfask, east of here in Schoolcraft County, the first winter damaged about 80 percent of the young trees beyond repair.

Plant on a slope, off the floor and off the windswept top; Montana State recommends an uphill site on a 4 to 8 percent grade, and an east-facing slope warms quickly on a frosty spring morning. Give trees at least 6 hours of direct sun, and test drainage first: dig 2 feet, fill, let it drain, refill, and under 10 hours is well drained. We taper water from mid-August so trees harden off, since an early freeze is rougher on a tree than −40°F in January. Deer come right into town (Presque Isle Park lists white-tailed deer), so fence young trees.

Fruit history in Marquette County and the U.P.

Northern Michigan University historian Russ Magnaghi and David Smith wrote the first study of U.P. apple growing, Apple Culture in the Upper Peninsula of Michigan and Wisconsin Border (2019). Magnaghi got interested after finding apple trees still growing at remote U.P. sites where the buildings were long gone, and the authors turned up an old Mining Journal interview with Sam Cohodas, whose family had orchards and who became a nationally known apple authority. MSU's Upper Peninsula Research and Extension Center at Chatham told them apple culture "isn't going to work" in the U.P. and stopped its apple trials. In Ishpeming, Partridge Creek Farm turned a blighted lot into the Inspiration Orchard in 2019, and the Ishpeming Lions Club has given away free fruit and nut trees beside the Cliffs Shaft Mining Museum.

Questions people ask

What growing zone is Marquette, Michigan?

Our map plans for −18°F in downtown Marquette, MFTC zone 5a, with a typical winter low of −7°F; Harvey, Trowbridge Park and the north shore plan for −21°F to −23°F (4b). USDA's zone is built on the average winter, ours on the bad night; the station read −24°F in 1996, so pick trees rated −25°F or colder.

What zone is Ishpeming, Michigan?

Ishpeming plans for −34°F, MFTC zone 3b, with a typical winter of −20°F, and Negaunee plans for −33°F (3b). The benches above both towns run about −31°F and the floors −35°F. West of town, Greenwood and South Greenwood plan for −36°F and −38°F (3a).

When is the last frost in Marquette, MI?

At the Marquette station on the lakeshore, the median last 32°F frost is May 4 and the last 28°F April 24 (NOAA station records, 1991 to 2020); one year in ten the last 32°F comes as late as May 26. At the NWS office in Negaunee Township it's May 22, and at Clarksburg, northwest of Ishpeming, June 9.

Why are Negaunee and Ishpeming so much colder and snowier than Marquette?

They sit 750 to 950 feet higher and about 15 miles inland, out of Lake Superior's reach, on floors where cold air pools on still nights. NOAA station records put the year's coldest night 9°F to 12°F colder on the range than at the Marquette station. Northeast winds push lake air up into the highlands, piling on far more snow than the city gets.

Can you grow apples in the Upper Peninsula?

Yes. Old homestead apple trees still grow at abandoned U.P. sites, and Ishpeming has a community orchard. On the range floors at −33°F to −35°F, Honeycrisp, Haralson and Frostbite (−45°F) and Kerr applecrab (−50°F) have room to spare, and on the lakeshore nearly every apple we sell clears −18°F to −23°F.

What plum pollenizes a Superior plum?

Toka pollenizes Superior well, and it's one of the two that MSU's Ask Extension named for a Marquette grower in 2024 (Waneta was the other). Toka has come through −45°F, so it fits anywhere on this map; Superior has come through −35°F, which clears Negaunee and Ishpeming by 1°F to 2°F. Our pollination maps show the other pairings.

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.