Fruit Trees for Valparaiso, Crown Point, Hammond, Michigan City and Northwest Indiana

In the January 1977 cold snap, NOAA's station at the Lowell treatment plant bottomed out at −28°F while the Gary station read −12°F. A 16°F spread inside one county is the first thing to know about fruit trees for Valparaiso, Crown Point, Hammond, Michigan City and Northwest Indiana. This map covers The Region from Hammond and Whiting east past Gary, Portage and the Indiana Dunes to Michigan City and La Porte, and south over the Valparaiso Moraine to Lowell, Kouts, Knox and the Kankakee River.

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, adjusted for the ground right around you. It's 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 number USDA's map is built on. The spring layer shows how much warmer or colder a spot runs than downtown Valparaiso, our reference town, on a still, clear night at bloom. Downtown Valparaiso sits 80 feet above its local floor, so most of the map reads colder.

Downtown Valparaiso plans for −23°F, MFTC zone 4b, with a typical winter of −9°F, and that's the middle of the map: half the growing ground plans between −24°F and −22°F. The warm end, zone 5a, is the lake plain and the dunes. Gary's Westside plans for −18°F, and Tolleston, Hammond's Woodmar and Hessville, Miller Beach and Ogden Dunes −19°F. The cold end, zone 4a, is the south: Lowell plans for −27°F, the coldest named place we checked, and Wanatah and Lomax −26°F. Most of what we sell clears the winter almost anywhere here. The real work is the spring layer.

Why the map looks the way it does

Three bands of ground run across Northwest Indiana. Along the lake is the Chicago Lake Plain, the flat, sandy bed of glacial Lake Chicago, about 585 to 640 feet up. South of it the Valparaiso Moraine rises 100 feet or more, its crest climbing from about 750 feet in Lake County to nearly 900 feet in LaPorte County, pocked with kettle lakes and knobs. It's the continental divide, draining north to Lake Michigan and south to the Kankakee. Below it lies the Kankakee Outwash Plain, flat sand that was the Grand Kankakee Marsh until it was drained in the late 1800s and early 1900s.

The lake sets the winter gradient. Lake Michigan averages 279 feet deep and gives up heat slowly, and the Illinois State Water Survey figures the Great Lakes raise average winter lows by about 7°F near Lake Michigan. On NOAA's recent records the year's coldest night averages about −4°F at the Bailly station and −5°F at the Gary airport, against −9°F at the Porter County airport in Valparaiso and −12°F at Lowell and Wanatah. In the median year Wanatah runs 6°F colder than Bailly, 15 miles away. But a lake shelters its shore only while it's relatively free of ice (the Wisconsin State Climatology Office's point), and shelf ice builds on the Dunes beaches. In the January 2019 cold wave the Indiana Dunes National Park station read −22°F while the Porter County airport read −19°F. Deep arctic air can fill the whole country at once.

On still nights the cold drains and pools, and the coldest ground is the south. Purdue names the Kankakee River Valley as its example of where cold settles on clear, calm nights, up to 15°F colder than nearby higher ground. It's a wide, flat basin (the old marsh fell only about 1.3 feet per mile), and a wide, shallow basin can pool harder than a deep valley that drains. Its old basins and meander scars hold peat and muck, low, wet ground that frosts first. The Lowell treatment plant station runs a median 4°F colder than both the Porter County airport and the old Ogden Dunes station.

The moraine is lumpy, and lumpy ground sorts cold by the yard. A closed hollow fills with cold air to its lowest notch before any spills out, so kettles and lake basins hold the cold while the knobs above them shed it. The town on shallow Cedar Lake reads 11°F colder than downtown Valparaiso on a bloom night, while the slopes north of downtown Valparaiso, 110 feet above their floor, read just 1°F colder. On the lake plain the cold strips are the bottoms of the Little Calumet, which crawls west on ground so flat it barely has a current, and Deep River. The old Hobart station, 2 miles west-northwest of town, read −29°F on Christmas Eve 1983, in a cold snap that took Valparaiso Waterworks to −20°F and La Porte to −18°F.

Towns hold a little heat (the map credits built-up ground with up to about 2.5°F), and the deep lake-effect snow from La Porte to Wanatah keeps roots warm while the air above it runs colder. The spring layer follows the same drainage, only harder, plus a lake that stays cold into spring and holds bloom back near the shore. The dune ridges read up to 9°F warmer than downtown Valparaiso, most of the lake plain 3°F to 8°F colder, and the frost hollows 10°F to 12°F colder.

Gary, Hammond, Whiting and East Chicago: the Calumet Region's lake plain

Gary sits at the south end of the old Lake Chicago bed, with sand a foot down, and Hammond is the same old lake bottom, dune and swale leveled under black topsoil. It's flat, low and built up, and it has the warmest winter readings of any named places on the map. Gary's Westside plans for −18°F and Tolleston −19°F, both zone 5a, with typical winters of −3°F to −4°F; Emerson, downtown, plans for −21°F and Black Oak −22°F. Downtown Hammond plans for −21°F, Woodmar and Hessville −19°F. Whiting, on the shore by Whihala Beach, plans for −21°F, East Chicago −22°F, and across the state line Calumet City −22°F, where the Joliet and south suburbs map picks up.

The warmest winter ground isn't the best spring ground. Whiting reads just 1°F colder than downtown Valparaiso on a bloom night, Miller Beach 2°F and Emerson 3°F, but inland Tolleston reads 6°F colder, Westside and Woodmar 7°F and Black Oak's river bottom 9°F. In the zone 5a neighborhoods everything rated −20°F or colder clears, including Bing sweet cherry and Santa Rosa plum, with at most 2°F to spare. Plant them on the highest part of the lot and keep frost cloth handy (by Alabama Extension's figures, covers of 0.5, 0.9 and 1.5 ounces per square yard gain about 4°F, 6°F and 8°F). Purdue says root injury is worst in sandy, dry soils, and this end of the map gets the least snow, so mulch and don't let the sand go dust dry going into winter.

Munster, Highland, Griffith, Dyer, Schererville and St. John

Munster's nickname is the Town on the Ridge, for Ridge Road, which follows the ancient Calumet Shoreline as a dry sandy ridge through the north part of town. Munster, Highland, Griffith, Dyer and Schererville all plan for −21°F, MFTC zone 4b, and read 6°F to 8°F colder than downtown Valparaiso in spring. St. John sits higher, at 724 feet and 60 feet above its floor, plans for −22°F and reads just 2°F to 3°F colder. Highland's north side sits down on the Little Calumet's low ground, where Highland Gardens and Frog Hollow plan for −23°F and read about 9°F colder in spring, while Forest Park and Woodland Estates, on the Highland and Griffith line, plan for −19°F, zone 5a. Michigan State's old orchard-site bulletin found that ridges only 25 to 30 feet above the plain can be nearly as frost-free as high hills, so if you're on Ridge Road, check your spring reading.

Everything rated −25°F or colder clears these towns with room: Redstar peach, Stella sweet cherry, Montana Trial Persimmon and SnowCzar almond. Keep the early bloomers and pears off the river-bottom ground, and put apples, honeyberries and currants there.

Crown Point, Merrillville, Hobart and Cedar Lake

Crown Point sits on the Valparaiso Moraine at 732 feet, 40 feet above its floor. It plans for −21°F, MFTC zone 4b, typical winter −7°F, and reads 5°F colder than downtown Valparaiso in spring. Hawthorne Hills, a hillside south of downtown 60 feet above its floor, reads only 3°F colder in spring. Winfield plans for −22°F, and just west of it Deer Creek has the coldest spring reading of any named place on the map, 12°F colder than downtown Valparaiso. Merrillville, at 655 feet where Deep River and Turkey Creek come through, plans for −22°F and reads 6°F colder. Downtown Hobart sits in the Deep River bottom by Lake George and plans for −24°F, as cold as the coldest tenth of the ground around it, while the warmest tenth within 3 miles plans for −21°F.

Cedar Lake, a Chicago resort in the late 1800s with more than 50 hotels and pavilions, is 781 acres of water with a median depth under 9 feet. The town plans for −25°F with a typical winter of −10°F and reads 11°F colder in spring. Everything rated −25°F or colder clears these towns, Cedar Lake with nothing to spare. On the frosty ground around Cedar Lake, Hobart and Deer Creek, plant apples, honeyberries and bush fruit, and save peaches, apricots, pears and plums like Superior and Toka for Crown Point's hills.

Valparaiso and the moraine lakes

Valparaiso is built on the moraine among kettle lakes and knobs. The soil is mostly clay. Downtown, at 779 feet and 80 feet above its floor, plans for −23°F, zone 4b, with a typical winter of −9°F; within 3 miles the floor plans for −24°F and the slopes −22°F. Spring is where the town splits. Lake View, Northwood Park and Roble Woods, on slopes 110 feet above their floor north of downtown, read just 1°F colder than downtown on a bloom night, and Crestview reads even with it. Closer to their floors, Burlington Beach and Edgewater read 7°F colder, Westhill 8°F and Aberdeen, southwest of town, 11°F.

Everything rated −25°F or colder clears downtown, and the −30°F group (Contender and Blushingstar peaches, Goldrich apricot, Stanley plum, D'Anjou pear) has 7°F of room. Put the apricots and peaches on the slopes, never in a kettle. On clay, test drainage first: dig 2 feet down, fill the hole, let it drain and fill it again; if it empties in under 10 hours, it's well drained.

Portage, Chesterton, Porter and the Indiana Dunes

Portage plans for −20°F, zone 4b by a hair, with a typical winter of −6°F and a spring reading 6°F colder than downtown Valparaiso. The dune towns have the best spring readings of any named places on the map. Ogden Dunes, on steep sand 50 feet above its floor, plans for −19°F, zone 5a, and reads even with downtown Valparaiso at bloom. Dune Acres plans for −20°F and reads 4°F warmer, Beverly Shores −20°F and 5°F warmer, and Mount Baldy, the 123-foot dune at the park's east end, 9°F warmer. Cowles Bog lies south and west of Dune Acres, and the Great Marsh, an interdunal wetland about 12 miles long, runs from Burns Harbor toward Michigan City; the floor within 3 miles of Beverly Shores plans for −25°F, 5°F colder than the village.

Chesterton, Burns Harbor and Porter make up Duneland. Chesterton, at 642 feet with Coffee Creek running through downtown, plans for −23°F and reads 6°F colder in spring, and the low ground east of downtown (Morgan Park, Graham Woods, Brummitt Acres) plans for −24°F. Porter plans for −23°F. The dune ridges are the place for apricots, peaches, sweet cherries like Lapins and pears like Bartlett and Seckel. Stay off the windswept crest and plant on the slope just below it.

Michigan City, Long Beach and Michiana Shores

Michigan City is the Michiana end of the shore, where Trail Creek enters Lake Michigan. Downtown, at 622 feet and 40 feet above its floor, plans for −22°F, MFTC zone 4b, typical winter −8°F, and reads 4°F colder than downtown Valparaiso in spring. The ground around it runs colder: the floor within 3 miles plans for −23°F, the town of Trail Creek −24°F, and the low ground southeast of the city at Orchard Highlands and Waterford −25°F. Long Beach, on a slope 50 feet above its floor, plans for −21°F and reads 2°F warmer than downtown Valparaiso, and Michiana Shores and Pottawattamie Park plan for −23°F and read 3°F colder. Everything rated −25°F or colder clears the shore. The high lots in Long Beach suit peaches and apricots, and the colder ground around Trail Creek suits Northern Spy and Evercrisp apples. Over the state line, the Southwest Michigan fruit belt map carries on up the shore.

La Porte, Westville, Wanatah and the snowbelt

La Porte, the Maple City, sits at 812 feet about 12 miles from Lake Michigan, with Clear, Pine, Stone and a half dozen other lakes in and around town. Downtown plans for −21°F, MFTC zone 4b, typical winter −6°F, a little warmer than even the warmest tenth of the ground within 3 miles, which fits a town's stored heat. Spring is the weak spot: downtown reads 6°F colder than downtown Valparaiso, and Timber Ridge and Monroe Manor 9°F colder. The high ground north and northwest of town does far better. Summit, at 905 feet and 170 feet above its floor, reads 1°F colder than downtown Valparaiso, and Smith, on a hillside 130 feet up, 1°F warmer. Farther east, the South Bend and Elkhart map takes over.

This is lake-effect country. La Porte averages more than 60 inches of snow a year, nearly double northern Illinois at the same latitude, against about 25 inches at Gary, and the December 12 to 14, 2010 storm left 31.5 inches near Wanatah while Munster and Crown Point got 5.5 inches (National Weather Service totals). Westville plans for −23°F. Wanatah, on flat ground 10 feet above its floor, plans for −26°F, zone 4a, typical winter −12°F, and the Wanatah station at the Pinney-Purdue Agricultural Center runs a median 3°F colder than La Porte. Union Mills plans for −24°F but reads 11°F colder in spring. Everything rated −25°F or colder clears La Porte and Westville; at Wanatah, plant from the −30°F group and colder and let the snow cover the roots.

Lowell, Hebron, Kouts and the Kankakee bottoms

Lowell sits on the south edge of the moraine, almost on the Kankakee Outwash Plain and about 5 miles outside the Great Lakes basin, at 669 feet, right on its local floor. It plans for −27°F, MFTC zone 4a, with a typical winter of −13°F, and even the warmest tenth of the ground within 3 miles plans for −24°F. Its spring reading is 7°F colder than downtown Valparaiso. The Lowell treatment plant station's lowest reading is −29°F on December 22, 1989, and its coldest since 1995 is −25°F, so the −27°F planning low sits 2°F below anything it has read in the last 30 winters. Hebron and Kouts plan for −23°F with floors of −24°F to −25°F, Knox −25°F, and Lomax, Wilders and Runnymede, down toward the Kankakee, −26°F.

Plant from the −30°F group and colder here. Contender and Blushingstar peaches clear Lowell by 3°F, Siberian C by 8°F, and Lapins and Gold, the hardiest sweet cherries we've found, by 8°F. Redstar peach, Stella cherry and SnowCzar almond are worth a try on the highest, best-drained knoll you have, with snow held over the roots. On the low ground plant Honeycrisp, Haralson and Zestar!® apples, Kerr and Trailman applecrabs, honeyberries and currants, and keep pears and apricots off it.

Spring frost and bloom along the lake and on the moraine

NOAA station records, 1991 to 2020 medians: last 32°F in spring, last 28°F, first 32°F in fall, frost-free days, and the late-year (1 in 10) last 32°F.

• La Porte station: April 17, April 4, October 31; 198 days; May 4.
• Bailly station: April 22, April 4, October 29; 188 days; May 4.
• Indiana Dunes National Park station: April 22, April 6, October 25; 186 days; May 14.
• Porter County airport station, Valparaiso: April 23, April 12, October 19; 177 days; May 10.
• Lowell treatment plant station: April 24, April 15, October 12; 167 days; May 13.
• Wanatah station: April 30, April 23, October 6; 156 days; May 14.

La Porte and Wanatah are 16 miles apart and their seasons differ by 42 days. The Wanatah station sits on the Pinney-Purdue farm with muck soil in the mix, the kind of ground that frosts first; the La Porte station is the one nearest that town. Purdue figures that within several miles of the shore the lake holds off the first fall freeze by about 2 to 3 weeks and cushions late spring frosts, and lake breezes cool spring days near the shore by several degrees, which holds bloom back past more of the frost nights.

Freezes in late April and early May 2020 hit about 70 percent of Indiana's apple crop (Purdue's Peter Hirst), and on April 24, 2023 a statewide hard freeze held Purdue's Lafayette farm at 26.8°F for an hour as apples began to bloom. You don't need a full set, though. Only about 15 percent of apple blossoms need to make fruit, and unless the fruit grows in clusters (cherries, grapes), most fruit can lose half its blossoms or more with no real effect. Open haskap flowers take 19°F.

Site is the single most important frost protection there is (the FAO's frost manual). Apricots, peaches, sweet cherries and pears go on the dune ridges, the moraine slopes and the high ground north of La Porte, earliest bloomers highest; apples, honeyberries, currants and gooseberries go lower; nothing goes in a kettle. Purdue says to cut 75 to 100 foot gaps through woods at the low points so cold air can drain. Cool lake-breeze bloom days slow pollination too (Purdue says pollen tubes grow slowly at 50°F to 60°F and nearly stop below 50°F), so plant pollenizers close. Toka is a good pollenizer for Superior, and our pollination maps show the rest.

What the weather records say

NOAA station records put the lowest readings here at −29°F, at the old Hobart station on December 24, 1983 and the Lowell treatment plant on December 22, 1989. Then come Wanatah −26°F (January 5, 1999), Valparaiso Waterworks −25°F (January 20, 1985), Knox −25°F (January 17, 2009), La Porte −23°F three times (1951, 1985 and 1994), Gary −22°F (January 30, 1966), the Indiana Dunes station −22°F and Bailly −21°F (both January 31, 2019), and Whiting −19°F (February 9, 1933). In January 1985 every station with a reading landed between −23°F and −25°F.

Indiana Dunes National Park is listed in USDA zone 6a. USDA's map is built on the average of each winter's coldest night; ours is the bad night to plan for, and NOAA station records show that night runs a median 13°F below a station's average winter low. That's why the dune towns read 5a and 4b on our map.

What you can grow here

Everything we sell rated −30°F or colder clears every named place on this map, Lowell included, so the choice comes down to site and bloom time.

The warm side of the lake plain and the dune towns, zone 5a (−20°F or warmer)

Gary's Westside, Tolleston and Midtown, Hammond's Woodmar and Hessville, Miller Beach, Ogden Dunes and Beverly Shores. Everything rated −20°F or colder clears: Bing, Santa Rosa, Flavortop and Arctic Glo nectarines, Baldwin apple and Javid's Iranian almond, right at the line at Beverly Shores. With more room: Glohaven and PF-24C peaches, Hardired nectarine, Stella cherry and the Purvis Hardy English walnut.

Most of the map, zone 4b (−20°F to −25°F)

Valparaiso, Crown Point, Merrillville, Hobart, Munster, Highland, Portage, Chesterton, Michigan City, La Porte, Westville and Cedar Lake. Everything rated −25°F or colder clears: Redstar and Risingstar peaches, Red Gold nectarine, Stella cherry, SnowCzar almond and the persimmon. With room to spare: Contender and Blushingstar peaches (Blushingstar came through −25°F at our place on January 13, 2024 without damage), Goldrich and Tomcot apricots, Lapins and Skeena sweet cherries, Stanley and Superior plums, Harrow Sweet pear, Roxbury Russet apple and the Montana Trial Pawpaw. On −21°F to −22°F ground, Bing and Santa Rosa are worth a try against a south or west wall.

Lowell, Wanatah and the Kankakee bottoms, zone 4a (colder than −25°F)

Everything rated −30°F or colder: Contender, Blushingstar and Siberian C peaches (Siberian C flower buds took 28°F at our place without damage), Lapins and Gold sweet cherries (one of our growers in Cowley, Wyoming reported no damage on Lapins at −33°F), Evan's Bali tart cherry, Superior and Toka plums, Westcot apricot on the highest ground, Summercrisp pear off the bottoms, Honeycrisp, Haralson and Wealthy apples, and Kerr and Trailman applecrabs (if you only plant one tree, make it one of those two).

Roots, soil and 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 with no damage, under snow. Purdue warns of frost heaving of young trees in heavy soils like the moraine's clay, and lists apple scab, fire blight, powdery mildew, cedar apple rust and collar rot as Indiana's main apple problems, plus sunscald and frost cracking on the southwest side of thin-barked trees like peaches. Paint those trunks with white interior latex diluted by half, in late fall on a day above 50°F, and taper water from mid-August so trees harden off.

Fruit history here

The old orchards cluster in LaPorte County. A valpo.life roundup listed Garwood Orchards between La Porte and Westville at six generations on the same land, Pavolka Fruit Farm in Michigan City, open since 1920 with more than 30 apple varieties, Williams Orchard at the Michigan line, started in 1911 with peaches and apples, and Radke Orchards south of Michigan City, five generations in. On the Lake County side there's County Line Orchard in Hobart and the farm stands on Ridge Road. A 1936 Michigan State orchard-site bulletin put Michigan's best fruit sites within 3 or 4 miles of Lake Michigan, and the Michigan City orchards sit close to the lake.

Questions people ask

What growing zone is Valparaiso, Indiana?

Downtown Valparaiso plans for −23°F, MFTC zone 4b, with a typical winter of −9°F. The warmest neighborhoods of Gary and Hammond, Ogden Dunes and Beverly Shores run zone 5a (−18°F to −20°F), and Lowell and Wanatah zone 4a (−26°F to −27°F). Indiana Dunes National Park is listed in USDA zone 6a; USDA's is based on an average winter, ours on the bad night we plan for.

When is the last frost in Northwest Indiana?

NOAA station records for 1991 to 2020 put the median last 32°F at April 17 at the La Porte station, April 22 at the Indiana Dunes and Bailly stations, April 23 at the Porter County airport, April 24 at Lowell and April 30 at Wanatah. In a late year (1 in 10) it comes as late as May 14 at Wanatah and the Indiana Dunes station.

Does Lake Michigan protect fruit trees in Northwest Indiana?

Within several miles of the shore it holds off the first fall freeze by about 2 to 3 weeks and cushions late spring frost (Purdue), and the dune ridges have the best spring readings of any named places on the map, up to 9°F warmer than downtown Valparaiso. It helps less in a deep arctic outbreak: in January 2019 the Indiana Dunes station read −22°F.

Can you grow peaches in Northwest Indiana?

Yes. Siberian C (−35°F), Contender and Blushingstar (−30°F) clear every named place on the map, and Redstar and the other −25°F peaches clear all but the coldest corners: Lowell, Wanatah, Creston and the Kankakee bottoms. Peaches bloom early, so plant them on the dune ridges or the moraine slopes, not in a bottom, and paint the trunks white.

Where are the frost pockets around Crown Point and Valparaiso?

The kettles, lake basins and creek bottoms. On a still bloom night Deer Creek, just west of Winfield, reads 12°F colder than downtown Valparaiso, Cedar Lake and Aberdeen 11°F colder, and the Lakes of the Four Seasons 10°F colder. The lake neighborhoods north of downtown Valparaiso read just 1°F colder and Hawthorne Hills in Crown Point 3°F colder.

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.