Fruit Trees for South Bend, Mishawaka, Elkhart, Goshen and Niles, Indiana and Michigan

In 125 years of NOAA records, the South Bend airport station has never read colder than −22°F, a low it hit in January 1897 and again in January 1943. The station 3 miles southwest of Goshen has gone to −25°F, and it was the coldest or tied for coldest station here in six of the ten biggest cold snaps since 1943. Those few degrees between the St. Joseph River towns and the Elkhart River country are the first thing to know about fruit trees for South Bend, Mishawaka, Elkhart, Goshen and Niles. The map covers the heart of Michiana, from Lakeville and North Liberty up through South Bend to Niles and Berrien Springs in Southwest Michigan, and east through Granger and Elkhart to Goshen, Middlebury and Edwardsburg.

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

Each spot's main number is its 30-year planning low. It comes from our cold hardiness calculator, with a light extra nudge for the lay of your own ground. Plan on it as the bad night; it isn't the record, and it doesn't say how often that night comes. The MFTC zone puts it in half zones, and the typical winter is an average year's coldest night, the kind of figure USDA's zones come from. The spring layer reads how many degrees warmer (+) or colder (−) than downtown South Bend a spot runs on a still, clear night at bloom.

Downtown South Bend, on the river at the bend, plans for −23°F, MFTC zone 4b, with a typical winter of −8°F. The middle of the map is a degree milder, −22°F, and half the growing ground falls between −22°F and −21°F, so this is a tight map. The warm end is zone 5a: Fairland, north of Niles, at −18°F, Adamsville, in Michigan north of Elkhart, at −19°F, and Granger at −20°F. The cold end is Goshen's Elkhart River bottoms, where Historic Dickerson Landing, the Racemere Peninsula and Shanklin Millrace plan for −25°F, zone 4a.

Why the map looks the way it does

This is flat to rolling glacial country, mostly 600 to 1,000 feet, and the biggest force on it is Lake Michigan, about 20 miles from South Bend. That's far enough that this country misses the full fruit-belt effect: the petition for the Lake Michigan Shore wine region found South Bend's January lows run 2°F to 4°F colder than the lakeshore fruit country of Berrien and Van Buren counties. Across the map, the north side runs milder than the south and southeast. In the years each station has on file since 1995, the year's coldest night has averaged about −5°F at Niles and the Elkhart airport, −7°F at the South Bend airport, −8°F at the two Goshen stations and −10°F at Lakeville. We haven't found a published explanation for that pattern; the map follows the stations.

What the lake does deliver is snow, and the heaviest lake-effect bands often set up right over the South Bend metro. In the January 7 to 9, 2011 storm the South Bend airport got 36.7 inches, Mishawaka 28.5, Granger 11.1 and Goshen 8.6. Elkhart averages about 74 inches a year, South Bend 64.5 and Goshen about 45 (the records cover different years). That's good for fruit trees: Purdue's cold-weather bulletin notes that snow insulates soil and roots from freezing air, and roots are the weak link in a tree's hardiness.

The St. Joseph River sets the drainage. It enters Indiana from Michigan above Bristol, runs west-southwest through Elkhart, Mishawaka and South Bend, turns hard north at the bend and winds past Niles, Buchanan and Berrien Springs to the lake. The river towns step down along it, Elkhart at 748 feet, Mishawaka 738, South Bend 719, Niles 686, while Granger, Goshen, Edwardsburg and Middlebury sit roughly 50 to 150 feet higher. On a still, clear night the air chilled on the upland slides into the valley and pools on the floor, so the river towns' bottoms run colder than the ground just above them. Downtown South Bend and Mishawaka plan for −23°F on the river; the higher ground within 3 miles of each plans for −21°F.

Goshen shows why height above the sea counts for less than height above your floor. Downtown sits higher than South Bend, at about 800 feet, but down on the Elkhart River's floor, in a valley of coarse outwash more than 150 feet thick, and Purdue's bulletin says sandy soils warm and cool quickly and let the cold go deeper to roots. Downtown Goshen plans for −24°F, and so does the floor within 3 miles, as cold a floor as any town's on the map. The Goshen station 3 miles southwest of town, at 875 feet, has 102 years on file and a record of −25°F from January 25, 1922, and over the 15 years both have on file it ran a median 4°F colder than the old Cassopolis station in Michigan, at 903 feet.

Southwest of South Bend the water goes the other way. The city sits on the divide between the Great Lakes and the Mississippi, and the Kankakee River, the river of the old Grand Kankakee Marsh, rises in wetlands at about 725 feet roughly 5 miles southwest of town. Purdue uses the Kankakee River Valley as its example of a frost pocket, where cold air pools on clear, calm nights up to 15°F colder than nearby high ground, though it doesn't name a spot near South Bend. South of the city the land rises, and the hills between Lakeville and North Liberty stand 130 feet above their floor.

The spring layer is gentle here, because the relief is: most named places land within 2°F of downtown South Bend on a still bloom night. The cold readings come from the bottoms. Nibbyville, between Elkhart and Bristol, reads 6°F colder than downtown South Bend, Mottville on the St. Joseph in Michigan and Keller Park in South Bend 4°F colder, Simonton Lake 2°F. The warm ones are whatever stands above its floor: Reeves Hill and Vargo Hill read 11°F to 12°F warmer, the warmest spring readings of any named place we checked, and Terrace Park on Goshen's east side 5°F warmer. On ground this flat a small rise matters; a 1936 Michigan State survey of orchard sites found ridges only 25 to 30 feet above the surrounding plain can be nearly as frost-free as high hills.

South Bend and Notre Dame

South Bend takes its name from the river's southernmost bend, and downtown sits right on it, on river-bottom ground 0 feet above the floor, at −23°F with a typical winter of −8°F. The river neighborhoods run a little colder: Keller Park, off Portage Avenue on the river, and Edgewater plan for −24°F, North Shore Triangle and LaSalle Park −23°F, and Keller Park reads 4°F colder than downtown on a spring night. Climb out of the valley and it improves. Harters Heights, Eddy Street Commons, Bercliff Estates and McKinley Terrace on the north and east sides plan for −21°F and Edison Park −20°F, and Harters Heights reads 3°F warmer than downtown at bloom. Rum Village on the southwest side, 40 feet above its floor, plans for −21°F and reads 2°F warmer.

Notre Dame, built around St. Joseph Lake and St. Mary's Lake, plans for −21°F and reads even with downtown in spring. South of the city, Crest Manor plans for −22°F but reads 4°F warmer than downtown on a spring night, and Gulivoire Park 2°F warmer.

Nearly everything we sell clears −23°F, so in South Bend the question is which side of town and where in the yard. The rises are the place for early bloomers: Goldrich and Westcot apricots, Lapins and White Gold sweet cherries, Italian plum and Contender peach. Tom McCamant grows Contender at Forbidden Fruit Orchard in Paradise, Montana, and it's the only commercial peach we know of that has taken −32°F. On the river-bottom lots, put in apples and frost-tough bush fruit: Honeycrisp, Liberty, Enterprise, haskap and Red Lake currant.

Mishawaka, Granger and Osceola

Mishawaka grew up at a ford beside rapids on the St. Joseph, and its black loam once grew big mint crops. Downtown is river bottom too and plans for −23°F with a typical winter of −9°F, though it reads 1°F warmer than downtown South Bend in spring. The slopes within 3 miles plan for −21°F and the warmest tenth of the ground −20°F. Osceola, on both banks of the river east of Mishawaka near Baugo Creek and Baugo Bay, plans for −22°F and reads 1°F colder than downtown South Bend at bloom.

Granger, on the upland northeast of Mishawaka at about 800 feet, is the mild spot on the Indiana side: −20°F, zone 5a, with a typical winter of −5°F. It reads even with downtown South Bend in spring, so its winter edge is the gain. That −20°F lets in the tender end of our list: Bing sweet cherry, Santa Rosa plum, Fantasia and Mericrest nectarines and Javid's Iranian Seedling almond, all rated −20°F and right at their limit, so give them the warmest wall on the lot. With room to spare there's Persimmon (Montana Trial), Redstar peach and Hardired nectarine, all −25°F, and Blushingstar peach at −30°F. In Mishawaka and Osceola, put the peaches and pears on the slopes and the apples and tart cherries lower.

Elkhart, Bristol and Simonton Lake

Elkhart sits where the Elkhart River meets the St. Joseph at Island Park, just north of downtown, with small lakes all around the city. It plans for −22°F with a typical winter of −7°F, and its airport station is, with Niles, the mildest on the map: an average yearly low of about −5°F since 1995 and a coldest reading of −18°F, in January 2019.

The low spots are the lake and river bottoms around town. Simonton Lake, north of Elkhart, plans for −22°F but reads 2°F colder than downtown South Bend on a spring night, Garden Village and De Camp Gardens 3°F colder, and Nibbyville, toward Bristol, 6°F colder, the frostiest spring reading of any named place we checked. Bristol, where the St. Joseph comes in from Michigan and the Little Elkhart joins it, plans for −23°F. East of Bristol, Bonneyville Mill on the Little Elkhart, on an 8 percent slope where cold air drains past, plans for −22°F and reads 3°F warmer than downtown South Bend.

Elkhart's lots fit everything rated −25°F and colder. Plant Stanley and Superior plums, Bartlett and Seckel pears and sweet cherries on your highest ground. Superior wants a partner, and Toka is a good pollenizer for it; our pollination maps show the other pairings. At Simonton Lake and Nibbyville, lean on apples like Cortland, Northern Spy and Golden Russet, and on Montmorency tart cherry.

Goshen, Middlebury and the Elkhart River country

Goshen is the cold corner. Downtown plans for −24°F, MFTC zone 4b, with a typical winter of −10°F, and the river neighborhoods run colder: Historic Dickerson Landing, the Racemere Peninsula and Shanklin Millrace plan for −25°F, zone 4a, and Northside, Parkside, Twin Pines, Rieth Park, Pickwick Village and the Historic Southside −25°F, zone 4b. West Goshen, East Goshen and College Farm plan for −24°F. The river comes north into Goshen Dam Pond on the south side and runs out through town with the Millrace and Rock Run Creek, and it floods; its record crest of 13.2 feet in February 2018 flooded more than 300 buildings. The Racemere Peninsula, Twin Pines and Pickwick Village read 2°F colder than downtown South Bend on a spring night.

The way out of the cold is up. Terrace Park and Maplecrest, on Goshen's east side 50 feet above the floor, plan for −22°F, 2°F warmer than downtown, and Terrace Park reads 5°F warmer than downtown South Bend at bloom, the best spring reading in the Goshen area. South of town it's colder: Waterford Mills and Bainter Town on the river plan for −25°F, Benton −24°F and New Paris −23°F, and Benton and Bainter Town read 3°F colder in spring. Middlebury, on the Little Elkhart in rolling Amish farm country, plans for −24°F on its river ground, while Lake Grange, west of town on a 14 percent hillside, plans for −22°F and reads 3°F warmer in spring.

At −24°F to −25°F, everything rated −30°F and colder fits, still most of what we sell: Haralson, Spartan, Honeycrisp and Liberty apples, Luscious and Flemish Beauty pears on the rises, Toka and Stanley plums, Evan's Bali tart cherry, and Contender, Blushingstar and Siberian C peaches, Siberian C being the hardiest peach we know of, very late ripening. The −25°F trees, Persimmon (Montana Trial) among them, clear downtown and the east side, and they're worth a try in Dickerson Landing, the Racemere Peninsula and Shanklin Millrace.

Lakeville, North Liberty and Wakarusa

The south county is upland farm country, and the map runs a little colder here: Lakeville plans for −23°F with a typical winter of −10°F, North Liberty −23°F, Wakarusa −22°F. The Lakeville station, at 841 feet, has the coldest average yearly low on the map since 1995, about −10°F, and a record of −22°F, from January 19, 1994. Potato Creek State Park, near North Liberty, holds 327-acre Worster Lake and restored wetlands.

It also has the best spring ground on the map. The hills between Lakeville and North Liberty, 130 feet above their floor, plan for −21°F, and on a spring night Reeves Hill reads 11°F warmer than downtown South Bend and Vargo Hill 12°F warmer; cold air drains off them before it can settle. Pine Station, on a toe slope south of the hills, reads 1°F warmer, while Woodland, out on the flats, reads 2°F colder. If you have hill ground here, it's the place on the map for apricots, peaches and sweet cherries: Westcot, Sungold and Harlayne apricots, Contender and Blushingstar peaches, Lapins and Black Gold cherries. On the flats, apples, tart cherries and bush fruit are the sure thing.

Niles, Buchanan, Berrien Springs and Edwardsburg

The Michigan side runs mildest. Niles plans for −22°F on the river, with a typical winter of −6°F, and its station has averaged about −5°F for the year's coldest night since 2010, with a record of −19°F on January 31, 2019. Niles sits on the St. Joseph with steep banks and rolling hills, Barron Lake to the east, and the higher ground within 3 miles plans for −19°F; downtown reads 2°F warmer than downtown South Bend in spring. Buchanan, where McCoy Creek meets the St. Joseph, plans for −22°F on the floor and −19°F on its higher ground. Berrien Springs plans for −21°F, −19°F on its higher ground, and reads 2°F warmer than downtown South Bend in spring. Fairland, north of Niles, is the mildest named place we checked, at −18°F.

East of the river, Edwardsburg, founded on Beardsley's Prairie among the Ontwa Township lakes, plans for −21°F and Cassopolis −22°F. Bertrand, just over the state line north of South Bend, plans for −23°F, and Mottville, on the St. Joseph to the east, reads 4°F colder than downtown South Bend in spring.

Niles, Buchanan and Berrien Springs fit everything rated −25°F and colder, and their −19°F higher ground fits the −20°F trees too, Bing and Santa Rosa among them. Put stone fruit on the bluffs and ridges above the river and leave the bottoms at Bertrand and Mottville to apples, haskap and currants. Farther north in Michigan's fruit country, our Grand Rapids, Holland and Fruit Ridge map covers you.

Spring frost and bloom in Michiana

With most of our list clearing winter here, spring is where crops are won and lost. How far inland the lake holds bloom back is unsettled: the Lake Michigan Shore wine region's papers give the lake a reach of 30 to 60 miles, while Purdue puts its 2 to 3 week delay of the first fall freeze within several miles of the shore. South Bend, 20 miles in, runs 2°F to 4°F colder than the shore in January, so count on less lake help at bloom than the fruit belt gets.

NOAA station records for 1991 to 2020 put the median last 32°F at April 27 at the Goshen station southwest of town, April 28 at the South Bend airport and the Goshen airport, and April 29 at Lakeville. The last 28°F, where open blossoms start to die, comes April 10 at Goshen's station, April 18 at South Bend and April 22 at Lakeville and the Goshen airport. The frost-free season runs 162 days at Lakeville to 169 at South Bend and Goshen, and in a late year (1 in 10) the last 32°F comes May 10 to May 16. Just north of the map the spread widens: the Eau Claire station gets 180 frost-free days and the Dowagiac station 150, with a late-year last frost on June 6.

Two recent freezes show it on the ground. The freeze of about April 5 and 6, 2012 damaged cherries, apricots and apple blossoms across Berrien County, while Jollay Orchards in Coloma, north of the map, got off lightly, with its losses concentrated in its low ground. In May 2020 a frost severely damaged 5 of the 11 crops at Lehman's Orchard on Portage Road in Niles; it killed the apple king bloom but spared the queen bloom, and took the early stone fruit, raspberries and blueberries. Purdue puts apple full bloom at 28°F for 10 percent kill and 25°F for 90 percent, peach at 27°F and 24°F. An apple needs only about 15 percent of its blossoms to set a crop (the University of Minnesota's figure), and open haskap flowers take 19°F.

The FAO's frost protection manual calls picking the site "the single most important method of frost protection," and on this map that means using every rise you've got: apricots, peaches, sweet cherries, plums and pears up top, apples, haskap and bush fruit down on the floor. Purdue adds two things that fit this country: airport readings often miss frost-pocket lows, so hang your own thermometer in the canopy, and where woods dam the bottom of a slope, cut a swath 75 to 100 feet wide at the low point to let the cold drain out. If you cover trees on a frost night, Alabama Extension found the light 0.5-ounce fabric gains about 4°F, the 0.9-ounce 6°F and the 1.5-ounce 8°F. After a freeze, cut a few buds open; Purdue says the dark-centered ones are dead, and less developed buds often come through a freeze that kills the more advanced ones.

What the weather records say

In NOAA station records, Goshen's station southwest of town holds the coldest long record, −25°F on January 25, 1922. Cassopolis read −23°F on February 5, 1918, the South Bend airport −22°F in 1897 and 1943, Lakeville −22°F in 1994, the Goshen airport −21°F on January 16, 2009 and Niles −19°F in 2019. A short-lived station at Mottville, with only 9 years on file, logged −26°F, the coldest reading here, so take it with care.

The big cold snaps hit the whole map within a few degrees. On January 21, 1984 Goshen's station read −24°F and South Bend −21°F; in the January 31, 2019 cold snap Goshen and Lakeville read −21°F, South Bend −20°F and Niles −19°F. Zone listings for USDA's 2023 map put most of northern Indiana, Goshen included, in zone 6a (an average coldest night of −10°F to −5°F), up from 5b in 2012, and the Lake Michigan Shore wine region in 6a with 7a near the lake. Our zones run 4b over most of the map, 5a at Granger and on the Michigan side's milder ground, and 4a in Goshen's coldest river neighborhoods, because USDA's map is built on the average winter and ours on the bad night you plan for.

What you can grow here

Most of what we sell clears winter on this map, so choose by site and bloom timing. Everything listed has come through cold at least as deep as the coldest spot in its band, except the few we mark worth a try.

South Bend, Mishawaka, Elkhart, Niles and most of the map: −18°F to −23°F

Apples: Honeycrisp, Liberty, Enterprise, Pristine, Golden Russet and Ashmead's Kernel. Pears: Bartlett, Seckel, Harrow Sweet and Clapp's Favorite. Plums: Toka, Superior, Italian, Shiro and Stanley. Cherries: Lapins, White Gold, Rainier, Stella, Montmorency and Evan's Bali. Apricots: Goldrich, Harlayne, Tomcot and Westcot. Peaches and nectarines: Contender, Veteran, Blushingstar and Hardired. Also Persimmon (Montana Trial), Montana Trial Pawpaw and Concord grape. At −18°F to −20°F (Fairland, Adamsville, Granger and the higher ground at Niles and Buchanan), Bing, Santa Rosa, Baldwin apple and the −20°F nectarines fit too.

Goshen, Middlebury, Benton and the Elkhart River bottoms: −24°F to −25°F

Apples: Honeycrisp, Haralson, Spartan, Liberty, Northern Spy and Wolf River. Pears, on rising ground: Luscious, Flemish Beauty and Summercrisp. Plums: Toka, Superior, Stanley and Mount Royal. Cherries: Evan's Bali, Montmorency, Meteor and Lapins. Peaches: Contender, Siberian C and Blushingstar. Grapes: Marquette and Concord. Persimmon (−25°F) clears most of this band and is worth a try in a good spot in its coldest neighborhoods. Berries everywhere: haskap, Montana Black Currant, Red Lake currant, Pixwell gooseberry and Nova raspberry.

Rootstocks, soil and the local problems

A dormant tree's roots give out long before its wood does, and snow cover is their protection; under snow, Bud 118 apple rootstock has seen near −50°F at Ed Schultz's farm in Gallatin Gateway, Montana, with no rootstock damage. The South Bend snow belt helps; Goshen's thinner snow and sand don't, so mulch the root zone there. In northeastern St. Joseph County the USGS found mostly sand and gravel north and east of the St. Joseph and clay-rich till south of it, and Purdue lists root injury on sandy or dry soils among the winter problems here, along with sunscald on the south and southwest sides of thin-barked trees, frost cracks and frost heaving. Paint trunks with white latex and prune in late winter, not October to January. Check drainage first with a 2-foot hole: fill it, let it drain, fill it again, and if the second fill is gone in under 10 hours, the spot drains well. Fire blight, apple scab and cedar rust are the apple diseases Purdue's guide builds around, so watch for them.

Fruit history here

By the 1840s peaches were going from Berrien County to Chicago, and Benton Harbor became one of the great fruit markets; Berrien is still one of the country's leading fruit counties, on sandy, well-drained soils. The Lake Michigan Shore wine region, mostly Concord and Niagara grapes, was set up in 1983 and reaches into Cass County. In Goshen, the Kercher family came from Ohio in 1851, and W.W. Kercher started commercial apples on 40 acres in 1922; Kercher's Sunrise Orchards, on the Elkhart River south of town, marked 100 years in 2022 and still grows about 50 acres of apples, plus peaches. Lehman's Orchard in Niles grows 11 fruits on about 55 acres, and Niles holds an Apple Festival parade.

Questions people ask

What planting zone is South Bend, Indiana?

Downtown South Bend plans for −23°F, MFTC zone 4b, with a typical winter of −8°F; the north side around Notre Dame plans for −21°F and Granger −20°F (5a). Zone listings for USDA's 2023 map put most of northern Indiana in 6a. USDA's is based on an average winter, ours on the bad night we plan for.

When is the last frost in South Bend?

NOAA station records for 1991 to 2020 put the median last 32°F at April 28 at the South Bend airport, with the last 28°F around April 18. In a late year (1 in 10) the last 32°F comes about May 16. Goshen and Lakeville run within a day or two of that.

Can you grow peaches in northern Indiana?

Yes. Siberian C (−35°F) and Contender and Blushingstar (−30°F) clear every named place on this map. Peaches bloom early, so plant them on a rise or a hill, like Crest Manor south of South Bend or Terrace Park in Goshen, never in a river bottom.

Does Lake Michigan protect South Bend from frost?

Less than it protects the shore. South Bend is about 20 miles inland, and its January lows run 2°F to 4°F colder than the lakeshore fruit belt's. Sources differ on how far inland the lake's help reaches, from several miles (Purdue) to 30 to 60 miles (the Lake Michigan Shore wine region). What the lake surely gives South Bend is snow, and snow over the roots helps in winter.

Can you grow cherries in South Bend?

Yes. Tart cherries like Montmorency (−35°F), Evan's Bali (−45°F) and Meteor (−40°F) clear the whole map, and so do sweet cherries like Lapins and Black Gold (−35°F). Sweet cherries bloom early, so give them your highest ground, off the river bottoms.

Where does frost settle around Elkhart and Goshen?

In the lake and river bottoms. On a still bloom night Nibbyville reads 6°F colder than downtown South Bend, Simonton Lake 2°F colder, and Goshen's Racemere Peninsula and Twin Pines 2°F colder. Higher ground does better: Terrace Park on Goshen's east side reads 5°F warmer and Bonneyville Mill 3°F warmer.

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.