Fruit Trees for Saginaw, Bay City, Midland and Frankenmuth, Michigan

On the night of April 24 to 25, 2024, an MSU weather station near MBS International Airport in Freeland sat at 24°F for three to four hours, with apple blossoms already out after a warm spell. Leaman's Green Applebarn lit hay bale fires and laid smoke over the trees, and by August the crop was coming in as one of the best they'd had in a long time. That night sums up fruit trees for Saginaw, Bay City, Midland and Frankenmuth. The winters are mild by our standards, and on this flat ground spring frost decides more crops than the winter low does.

This map covers the Tri-Cities and the Great Lakes Bay Region, from the Saginaw Bay shore at Bay City, Essexville and Linwood up the Tittabawassee to Midland and Sanford, and south across the Saginaw Valley to Freeland, St. Charles, Frankenmuth and Birch Run. 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 Saginaw, our reference town, on a still, clear night at bloom.

Downtown Saginaw plans for −20°F, MFTC zone 5a by a fraction, with a typical winter of −6°F. The middle of the map's growing ground plans for −19°F, and half of it plans between −20°F and −18°F. The warm end is the mouth of the Saginaw River, where Bay City and Essexville plan for −15°F, MFTC zone 5b. The cold end is inland. Tuscola, in a river bottom 4 miles east of Frankenmuth, plans for −25°F, the coldest named place we checked, and Richville, Sanford and Edenville plan for −22°F, zone 4b. Everything we sell rated −25°F or colder clears every named place we checked, so what's left to decide is where each tree goes on your ground and how it'll handle bloom nights.

Why the map looks the way it does

This is the bed of glacial Lake Saginaw, about as flat as fruit country gets: clayey old lake bottom broken by low sand ridges that mark old shorelines. From the bay's surface at 581 feet, the ground climbs to only about 690 feet at the map's west edge near Edenville and Langport. The Tittabawassee, Shiawassee, Bad, Flint and Cass all gather here, and the Saginaw River they make falls only about 6 feet in its 22 miles to the bay. Every named place we checked except Edenville sits 0 to 30 feet above its local floor, and no town on the map has ground 100 feet above the floor within 3 miles. There's no thermal belt to climb into.

Flat ground still sorts the cold. On a clear, calm night most of a cold pool is made right where it sits, as the ground radiates its heat to the sky, and a wide, shallow basin can pool harder than a deep valley that drains. The cold settles on the river bottoms, the flats where the rivers meet and the wet clay between the ridges. NOAA station records show it. The old St. Charles station, at 600 feet on the Bad River, ran a median 3°F to 5°F colder than the Midland, Bay City and MBS airport stations, and on January 17, 1982 it hit −25°F while MBS and Midland read −15°F in the same cold snap. In February 2015 the Saginaw No. 3 station, at 600 feet, read −20°F, and the MBS station, 62 feet higher on the open plain near Freeland, −15°F.

That makes the sand ridges the high ground. They're step-like sandy rises, drier than the clay around them (Michigan State's geographers), and a 1936 Michigan State orchard bulletin found that ridges only 25 to 30 feet above the surrounding plain can be nearly as frost-free as high hills. We haven't found the ridges here mapped with their heights, so if you've got a sandy rise with lower ground below it for the cold to drain to, that's where the early bloomers go.

Saginaw Bay is the warm sink, and a narrow one. Bay City and Essexville plan for −15°F, and in that 1982 cold snap the Essexville station read −13°F, 12°F warmer than St. Charles. But open water holds heat and ice doesn't. The inner bay averages only about 13 feet deep, cools faster than the outer bay and is almost entirely iced over by midwinter, and the Natural Resources Conservation Service says the Great Lakes do little for this plain inland because the prevailing winds blow offshore. The map agrees. Kawkawlin, about 2 miles back from the beach, plans for −16°F, Auburn, 9 miles west of Bay City, −19°F, and even right on the shore east of the river mouth, Quanicassee and Oakhurst plan for −20°F. The warm spot is the built-up river mouth, where town heat (the map credits built-up ground with up to about 2.5°F) and the bay work together. A deep enough outbreak overrides both: the old Bay City station's record is −31°F, set February 5, 1918, the day Saginaw's long-running station bottomed out at −23°F.

The cold side of the map is inland, east toward the Thumb and northwest up the Tittabawassee. The Vassar station, on the Cass River just past the east edge, has only 13 years on file, but it read −29°F in the February 2015 cold snap, 9°F below Saginaw No. 3. Up the Tittabawassee, the automated station at Midland's airport has averaged a winter low near −10°F over its 23 winters, about 4°F colder than the other Midland station.

The spring layer follows the same drainage, and it's where the bay earns its keep. On a still bloom night the shore from Essexville up to Little Killarney Beach reads 6°F to 7°F warmer than downtown Saginaw, while nearly every named place inland reads within 3°F of downtown either way. By day the bay keeps the shore cool. On warm spring days onshore flow off Lake Huron and Saginaw Bay holds shore highs 10°F or more below inland, and on May 8, 2025 WNEM had lakeshore highs stuck below 50°F while central Michigan neared 60°F. Cool days slow the buds, the classic fruit-belt effect, though we haven't found published bloom dates for the bay shore that say by how many days.

Bay City, Essexville and the Saginaw Bay shore

Bay City straddles the Saginaw River near its mouth (West Bay City was its own city until 1905), with Essexville, the Gateway to the Saginaw Bay, right at the mouth. It's 586 to 592 feet, within about 10 feet of the bay. Bay City plans for −15°F, MFTC zone 5b, typical winter −3°F, and reads 5°F warmer than downtown Saginaw at bloom; Essexville plans for −15°F and reads 6°F warmer. Most of the ground within 3 miles of downtown Bay City, the Center Avenue Historic District, Midland Street and Uptown included, plans for −14°F to −17°F.

North along the shore, by Bay City State Park and Tobico Marsh (one of the largest Great Lakes coastal wetlands left), the winter cools a step at each beach: Aplin Beach −15°F, Tobico Beach −16°F, Little Killarney −17°F, Killarney and Brissette −18°F, Linwood Beach −19°F. The spring readings stay good the whole way, 6°F to 7°F warmer than downtown Saginaw from Aplin to Little Killarney and 4°F to 5°F from Killarney to Linwood Beach. Linwood plans for −18°F and Kawkawlin −16°F, and both read warmer than downtown Saginaw at bloom. East of Essexville toward the Thumb, Quanicassee and Oakhurst plan for −20°F but still read 2°F to 4°F warmer.

Everything rated −20°F or colder clears the shore, with about 5°F to spare in Bay City and Essexville, Bing sweet cherry and Santa Rosa plum included. The Chicago Hardy Fig, rated −10°F, is worth a try against a south wall there. The shore's spring readings make it the place for apricots, peaches, sweet cherries and pears. The catch is wet ground, so test drainage first: dig a hole 2 feet deep, fill it, let it drain and fill it again. If it empties in under 10 hours, it's well drained.

Saginaw, Zilwaukee, Buena Vista and Bridgeport

Saginaw grew as two towns, Saginaw City on the west bank around old Fort Saginaw and East Saginaw across the river, merged in 1890. The city sits about 10 feet above the bay on the river bottom, about 5 miles downstream of the Shiawassee Flats, and the river sorts its neighborhoods. Downtown, at 594 feet and 10 feet above its floor, plans for −20°F, as cold as the coldest tenth of the ground within 3 miles; the floor around it plans for −18°F and the warmest tenth −16°F.

Old Saginaw City, on the west bank 20 feet above its floor, plans for −18°F and reads 2°F warmer than downtown at bloom, the best spring reading of the city's named neighborhoods. Northmoor plans for −17°F, WitMor Heights −16°F and Buena Vista −18°F, all within 1°F of downtown in spring. Downriver, Zilwaukee sits right on its floor at 586 feet and plans for −18°F, and a mile east of it Crow Island, in a channel the cold drains through, reads 3°F colder than downtown at bloom. Bridgeport, on the Cass River bottom 5 miles southeast of downtown, plans for −19°F. Bing and Santa Rosa clear downtown with nothing to spare and Old Saginaw City, Northmoor and WitMor Heights with 2°F to 4°F. Keep the early bloomers up off the river and put apples and honeyberries down low.

Midland, Sanford and the Tittabawassee

Midland grew up where the Chippewa joins the Tittabawassee, and the Tridge crosses both at Chippewassee Park. Downtown, at 627 feet and 20 feet above its floor, plans for −17°F, MFTC zone 5a, typical winter −5°F, and reads 2°F warmer than downtown Saginaw at bloom; the floor within 3 miles plans for −19°F. Dean, 2 miles southeast, plans for −18°F and reads 2°F warmer, while Homestead Farm, on the river bottom west of downtown, plans for −20°F and reads 1°F colder. Golden, 4 miles east, and Poseyville, 5 miles south, where a dike broke in the May 2020 flood, both read 2°F colder.

Up the river it gets colder. Sanford, at the old south end of Sanford Lake (drained when the Edenville and Sanford dams failed on May 19, 2020), sits right on its floor and plans for −22°F, zone 4b, typical winter −9°F. Averill, between Midland and Sanford, plans for −21°F. Edenville, 9 miles upriver from Sanford, shows winter and spring splitting. On a slope 40 feet above its floor it reads 3°F warmer than downtown Saginaw at bloom, the best spring reading of any named inland place we checked, yet it plans for −22°F this far from the bay. Sanford and Edenville clear the −25°F group with 3°F to spare, and Bing there is only worth a try on high, well-drained ground with snow over the roots. Edenville's slope suits apricots and plums; the bottoms at Homestead Farm and Averill suit apples and bush fruit. Farther northwest toward Clare, the Big Rapids, Cadillac and Clare map covers you.

Freeland, Hemlock, Shields and Auburn

West of Saginaw the plain opens into farm country, a little higher (Hemlock is at 649 feet, Merrill at 671 feet). Freeland, near the river in Tittabawassee Township, has MBS International Airport, Bayne's Apple Valley and Leaman's Green Applebarn. It plans for −20°F, zone 5a by a hair, typical winter −8°F, and reads 1°F colder than downtown Saginaw at bloom. It's on the river bottom, and the warmest tenth of the ground within 3 miles plans for −16°F, so a short move up off the river counts for a lot.

Hemlock and Shields plan for −17°F and read 1°F warmer than downtown Saginaw in spring, Merrill plans for −18°F, and Lawndale, 30 feet above its floor 5 miles southeast of Freeland, −16°F. Shattuckville, 3 miles north-northeast of Shields, ties Crow Island for the coldest spring reading of any named place we checked, 3°F colder than downtown Saginaw. Over in Bay County, Auburn plans for −19°F. Leaman's grows 20 apple varieties, from Paula Red in August into the first week of November, and apples are the safe bet out here. Put apricots and peaches on a rise.

Frankenmuth, Birch Run, St. Charles and the southern flats

Frankenmuth's Franconian settlers picked a hilly spot in 1845 that reminded them of home, and planted sister colonies at Frankenlust, Frankentrost and Frankenhilf (now Richville). The town itself sits on the Cass River bottom at 637 feet, 20 feet above its floor and farther from the bay. It plans for −21°F, MFTC zone 4b, typical winter −7°F, and reads 2°F warmer than downtown Saginaw at bloom. Within 3 miles the warmest tenth of the ground plans for −19°F and the coldest −23°F, so the hills the settlers liked are worth finding, and that's where apricots and plums go. Richville and Denmark Junction, northeast toward the Thumb, plan for −22°F, and Tuscola, 4 miles east in a river bottom, −25°F with a typical winter of −10°F. Birch Run plans for −20°F, zone 4b by a hair, and even the warmest tenth of the ground near it plans for −20°F. South toward Flint, the Lansing, Flint and Owosso map takes over.

St. Charles, on the Bad River at 594 feet, plans for −20°F, typical winter −7°F, and reads even with downtown Saginaw at bloom. Its old station had the coldest average yearly low (−11°F) of any station here with 30 or more years on file. East of town, Clausedale and Alicia sit at 584 and 586 feet, as low as Essexville, and plan for −21°F: the same height as the bay shore and 6°F to 7°F colder. About 5 miles south of Saginaw, the Shiawassee National Wildlife Refuge covers 9,870 acres of the Shiawassee Flats, ditched and tiled from 1903. We haven't found published measurements of its nights, but low, flat, wet ground like that is where cold collects first. The −30°F group clears all of this country with 5°F to 10°F of room, and Bing and Santa Rosa are worth a try in Frankenmuth and Birch Run on your best-drained high spot, never on the river bottoms.

Spring frost and bloom on the bay and the plain

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.

• Saginaw No. 3 station (600 feet): April 30, April 15, October 17; 170 days; May 14.
• MBS International Airport station near Freeland (662 feet): April 28, April 15, October 17; 168 days; May 14.
• Midland station (640 feet): April 29, April 13, October 11; 162 days; May 13.

All three are inland and agree within two days in spring; Midland's first fall 32°F comes six days earlier than the others'. No bay shore station has frost dates for those years, so we can't give Bay City dates of its own. The map reads the shore from Essexville up to Linwood 4°F to 7°F warmer than downtown Saginaw on a still bloom night, and NC State's orchard guide figures 3°F to 4°F can separate no crop from a full one.

The bad nights come after a warm spell pulls bloom ahead, like the April 2024 night at Freeland. The news story on it cited MSU's figures, about 10 percent bud loss at 28°F and about 90 percent at 24°F, and yet Leaman's crop came in big and 10 to 14 days early. Only about 15 percent of apple blossoms need to set for a crop (the University of Minnesota's number), and unless the fruit grows in clusters (cherries, grapes), most fruit can lose half its blossoms or more with no real effect.

Site is the single most important frost protection there is (the FAO's frost manual says so). Put apricots, peaches, sweet cherries, plums and pears on the bay shore, a sand ridge or your highest ground, earliest bloomers highest, and apples, honeyberries, currants and gooseberries lower; open haskap flowers take 19°F. Don't dam the cold with a hedge or fence across the low side of the planting. Through bloom, mow under 2 inches, don't till, and water a day or two before a forecast frost. Frost cloth of 0.5, 0.9 and 1.5 ounces per square yard gains about 4°F, 6°F and 8°F (Alabama Extension's figures). Toka is a good pollenizer for Superior, and our pollination maps show the rest.

What the weather records say

NOAA station records put the coldest readings here at −31°F at the old Bay City station on February 5, 1918, −30°F at the old Midland 2 station on February 10, 1912, and −29°F at the short-record Vassar station just east of the map on February 20 and 21, 2015. Then come St. Charles −25°F (January 17, 1982) and Saginaw −23°F (February 5, 1918, in the city's long record, kept today at MBS International Airport). The other stations' records are milder: Saginaw No. 3 −20°F (February 20, 2015), Midland −19°F (January 19, 1994) and Essexville −18°F (January 18, 1994).

The year's coldest night averages about −7°F to −10°F at most stations here and −11°F at St. Charles. We haven't found town-by-town values from USDA's 2023 map; one gardening guide lumps Central and Mid-Michigan into USDA 5a to 6a, and the old 1990 map had Bay City, Freeland and Shields in 6a and Saginaw, Midland and Frankenmuth in 5b. 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, so our zones usually read more than a full zone colder than USDA's.

What you can grow here

Everything we sell rated −25°F or colder clears every named place we checked, Tuscola included, and that's nearly the whole list. Pick by site, drainage and bloom time.

Bay City, Essexville and the bay shore (−15°F to −20°F)

Everything rated −20°F or colder clears: Bing, Santa Rosa, Flavortop and Arctic Glo nectarines, Baldwin apple and Javid's Iranian almond, plus the Chicago Hardy Fig worth a try in Bay City and Essexville. This is the ground for early bloomers: Goldrich and Tomcot apricots, Redstar and Glohaven peaches, Lapins and Stella sweet cherries, and Bartlett and Seckel pears.

Saginaw, Midland, Freeland and the middle of the plain (−16°F to −20°F)

Everything rated −20°F or colder clears, with nothing to spare in downtown Saginaw, Freeland and St. Charles. With room: Risingstar and Contender peaches, Hardired nectarine, Skeena sweet cherry, Stanley plum, Harrow Sweet pear, SnowCzar almond, the Montana Trial Pawpaw and Montana Trial Persimmon, and apples like Northern Spy and Golden Russet. Give the peaches and plums the spots with warmer spring readings (Old Saginaw City, downtown Midland, Dean) and leave the frosty low spots for apples and bush fruit.

Frankenmuth, Birch Run, Sanford and the colder edges, zone 4b (−20°F to −25°F)

Everything rated −25°F or colder clears, Tuscola with no room, so lean on the −30°F group and colder at the cold end: Siberian C peach (its flower buds took 28°F at our place without damage), Contender and Blushingstar peaches (Blushingstar came through −25°F at our place on January 13, 2024 without damage), Lapins and Gold sweet cherries, Superior and Toka plums, Westcot apricot on the highest ground, Summercrisp pear off the bottoms, Honeycrisp and Zestar!® apples, and Kerr and Trailman applecrabs (if you only plant one tree, make it one of those two). Bing and Santa Rosa are worth a try on the best spot you've got.

Roots, soil and the wet clay

Drainage is the big local problem. Most of this plain is heavy, poorly drained lake clay with a high water table (about 10 inches down on the NRCS's lake plain flats site), and the NRCS says fruit on this lake plain goes on the coarse, sandy soils. Use the drainage test before you plant anything. The sand ridges drain well but dry out and erode easily, and dry soil means more root death in a hard winter, so mulch and keep the soil moist going into winter. 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. In the zone 4b corners, taper water from mid-August so trees harden off.

Questions people ask

What growing zone is Saginaw, Michigan?

Downtown Saginaw plans for −20°F, MFTC zone 5a by a fraction, with a typical winter of −6°F; across the city it runs from −16°F in WitMor Heights to −20°F on the river bottom downtown. One guide lumps Mid-Michigan into USDA 5a to 6a on the 2023 map, and the old 1990 map had Saginaw in 5b. USDA's is based on an average winter, ours on the bad night we plan for.

What zone is Midland, Michigan?

Downtown Midland plans for −17°F, MFTC zone 5a, with a typical winter of −5°F, and Sanford and Edenville up the Tittabawassee plan for −22°F, zone 4b. An MSU Extension educator put Isabella County, just west of Midland, at roughly −10°F to −5°F on USDA's 2023 map (zone 6a); USDA's is based on an average winter, ours on the bad night we plan for.

When is the last frost in Saginaw and Bay City?

NOAA station records for 1991 to 2020 put the median last 32°F at April 28 at the MBS airport station, April 29 at the Midland station and April 30 at the Saginaw No. 3 station, and May 13 to 14 in a late year (1 in 10). No bay shore station has frost dates for those years; on our map the Bay City shore reads 5°F to 7°F warmer than downtown Saginaw on a still bloom night.

Can you grow peaches in Saginaw?

Yes. Every peach we sell, from Redstar and Glohaven (−25°F) to Siberian C (−35°F), clears every named place we checked. The risk is bloom frost, not winter, so plant peaches on the bay shore, a sand ridge or the highest, best-drained part of your lot, never on a river bottom.

Does Saginaw Bay protect fruit trees from frost?

On the shore, within limits. The shallow inner bay is almost entirely iced over by midwinter, so its winter help stays close to the water: Bay City and Essexville plan for −15°F, while Auburn, 9 miles inland, plans for −19°F. In spring the shore from Essexville up to Linwood reads 4°F to 7°F warmer than downtown Saginaw on a still bloom night, and cool onshore days slow the buds.

Where are the frost pockets around Saginaw and Midland?

Low, flat ground with nowhere to drain. On a still bloom night Shattuckville and Crow Island read 3°F colder than downtown Saginaw, and Groveton, Indiantown, Swan Creek and Poseyville 2°F colder. In winter the coldest named places we checked are Tuscola (−25°F) and Richville, Denmark Junction, Sanford and Edenville (−22°F).

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.