Fruit Trees for Toledo, Perrysburg, Bowling Green, Maumee and Monroe, Ohio and Michigan

On May 9, 2020, MacQueen Orchards in Holland, Ohio, was in full bloom when it fell to 24°F. A farm that normally picks about 110,000 bushels picked about 50,000 that fall. That's the real risk with fruit trees for Toledo, Perrysburg, Bowling Green, Maumee and Monroe. The winter number here runs from −13°F in the old city to −24°F at Blissfield, and most of what we sell has come through colder. The crop gets decided on still spring nights, and on ground this flat a few feet of height decide where the frost lands.

The map covers the west end of Lake Erie in Northwest Ohio and Southeast Michigan: nearly all of Lucas County, the northern two thirds of Wood County, eastern Fulton County around Swanton and Metamora, the southern half of Monroe County, Michigan, and the southeast corner of Lenawee County around Blissfield. Type your address in the box on the map to get the number for your own place, and the list of what we sell that has come through it.

How to read this map

The big number is the 30-year planning low, the number our cold hardiness calculator uses, nudged for the lay of the land. It's a safe number to plan on, not the record and not a promise of how often it comes. The MFTC zone is that number in half zones. The typical winter is an average year's coldest night, the kind of figure USDA's map uses. The spring layer shows how many degrees warmer or colder a spot runs than downtown Toledo on a still, clear night at bloom.

Downtown Toledo, our reference, plans for −14°F, MFTC zone 5b, with a typical winter around 0°F. The middle of the map's growing ground plans for −18°F, half of it between −20°F and −17°F. The warm end is the old city along the river, where Uptown, the Old West End and East Toledo plan for −13°F. The cold end is the Michigan side to the northwest: Blissfield at −24°F (4b), Riga and Ogden at −22°F.

Why the map looks the way it does

This is all old lake bottom. Glacial lakes stood over the area, the highest about 220 feet above today's Lake Erie, and they left a plain so flat the Great Black Swamp grew on it, falling about 4 feet in a mile. Streams cut only shallow valleys into the clay. Named places we checked run from 572 feet at Niles Beach on the shore to 769 feet at Raisin Center, northwest of Blissfield, and most sit 0 to 20 feet above their own local floor.

The winter number is mostly the weather stations' story, and it's a simple one: colder as you go inland. The old Toledo Blade station and the Newport 4SSE station in Monroe County, just 7 feet above the lake, both average −4°F for the year's coldest night. Toledo Express and Bowling Green average −8°F, Blissfield −10°F. Over 27 years Toledo Express has run a median 5°F colder than the Blade station on that night. In the cold snap of January 21, 1984 the Blade station read −15°F, Monroe −17°F, Toledo Express −20°F and Napoleon, up the Maumee just off the map, −24°F.

Two things push the city and the bay shore the warm way. One is the lake. Erie is the shallowest Great Lake, its western basin averages about 25 feet, and it's the first to freeze: ice usually starts in late November, and the lake typically passes 60 percent cover by early February. Lakes shelter their shores only while they're relatively free of ice. The Illinois State Water Survey put the Great Lakes' boost to mean winter lows at up to 14.4°F over Lake Superior and only 1.8°F at Erie. The other is the city. Pavement and buildings hold heat on calm, clear nights (our map gives built-up ground up to 2.5°F), and Toledo's own summer heat mapping put downtown at the center of the city's heat.

The northwest corner runs cold. On January 31, 2019 the Toledo and Bowling Green stations read −9°F to −11°F while the Adrian airport station, just off the map, read −19°F. On January 17, 2009 the Blissfield 1NNE station hit −20°F, the coldest of any station here in that snap. It has only 10 winters on file (2002 to 2011) and the map leans on it, so Blissfield's −24°F is a careful number built on a short, cold record.

The spring layer is where the terrain shows. On a still, clear night the coldest air settles into whatever low ground there is, and Michigan State researchers found back in 1936 that orchard ridges only 25 to 30 feet above the surrounding plain can be nearly as frost free as high hills. In west Toledo the Westmoreland neighborhood, 20 feet above its floor, reads 1°F colder than downtown on a bloom night. The Westmoreland historic district, about 700 feet away and 14 feet lower, reads 5°F colder, and the Ottawa neighborhood just north of it reads 7°F colder, the coldest spring reading of any named place we checked.

West of Sylvania and Holland the Oak Openings break up the plain with low dunes and old beach ridges, 25 to 75 feet of local relief, and wet prairies in the poorly drained hollows between them. Researchers in Oklahoma measured a 20°F difference across a hillside only about 40 feet tall. Glanntown, southwest of Sylvania on a 16 percent slope, reads 5°F warmer than downtown, the warmest spring reading of any named place we checked, while Raab Corners and Java, on flat ground a few miles west, read 5°F colder. On ground this flat a hedge, fence line or road fill can back cold air up behind it, so watch where your cold air goes, not just how high you are.

Downtown Toledo, the Old West End and East Toledo

The old city is the warmest winter ground on the map. Downtown sits at 585 feet on the Maumee floor and plans for −14°F (5b). Uptown, Collingwood Springs, Warren-Sherman, ONYX, Roosevelt, the Middle Grounds, the Vistula and Old West End historic districts and East Toledo across the river plan for −13°F, with a typical winter about 1°F above zero. Within 3 miles the coldest tenth of the ground plans for −16°F. On a bloom night the blocks near the river do best: Northriver reads 4°F warmer than downtown, Vistula and the Middle Grounds 3°F warmer, while the Old West End reads about 1°F colder. Town trees bloom earlier than country trees, so the city gives back some of its winter edge in spring.

Everything we sell clears winter here except the Chicago Hardy Fig (−10°F), and it's worth a try within a few feet of a south or west wall. Apricots like Harlayne, peaches like Contender and sweet cherries like Bing and Lapins belong on the warm riverside blocks, out of the low corners.

West Toledo, Ottawa Hills and Sylvania

West of the old city the planning low slides from −15°F toward −18°F. West Toledo and Five Points plan for −16°F and read 1°F warmer than downtown on a bloom night. Secor Gardens, by the University of Toledo, plans for −15°F and reads 2°F colder; Homeville and Elmhurst read 4°F colder. Ottawa Hills, on a 5 percent toe slope where the Ottawa River's dams came out in 2007 and 2020, plans for −17°F and reads 1°F colder. Southwest of downtown, Highland Heights sits in a creek draw on an 8 percent slope and reads 4°F to 5°F colder. A draw like that carries cold air down all night; it's no place for an apricot.

Tenmile Creek and North Tenmile Creek meet at Sylvania to form the Ottawa River. Sylvania, whose name means forest land (it was dense swamp forest), plans for −18°F at 662 feet with a typical winter of −5°F, and reads 2°F colder than downtown; within 3 miles the floor plans for −18°F and the coldest tenth −19°F. Out here pears, plums and sweet cherries go on blocks that read even with downtown or warmer, like West Toledo and Five Points, and the low blocks get apples, tart cherries and bush fruit.

Holland, Swanton, Whitehouse and the Oak Openings

West of Toledo the clay gives way in patches to the sand of the Oak Openings, a black oak savanna named by pioneers for how open it was next to the swamp they'd crossed. The sand drains well but it's droughty and low in fertility, and it's patchy: in 2024 a Springfield Township homeowner told OSU Extension the county had his 6 acres on Geiser Road down as all clay, and he'd found only sand.

Toledo Express Airport, where the Blade reports Toledo's official readings, sits out here in Swanton and Monclova townships. We haven't found a published explanation for why it runs colder than the city; being farther from the lake and from downtown fits the rest of the map. Holland, MacQueen Orchards' town, plans for −17°F and reads 3°F colder than downtown on a bloom night. Monclova plans for −20°F, Swanton and Whitehouse −19°F, and Metamora, up in Fulton County at 720 feet, −21°F (4b) with a spring reading 5°F colder. The flats at Crissey and Sharples read 3°F and 4°F colder, while Silica, by Glanntown's slope, reads 1°F warmer.

Give the earliest bloomers the slopes and rises, keep the hollows for apples and bush fruit, and on droughty sand set up drip, which is how we water fruit trees.

Maumee, Perrysburg, Rossford and Waterville

The Maumee drains the biggest basin of any Great Lakes river, running 137 miles from Fort Wayne (the Fort Wayne and Northeast Indiana map covers its source) to Maumee Bay. Perrysburg and Maumee face each other at the old Foot of the Rapids. Perrysburg's first settlement sat on the floodplain below Fort Meigs and flooded until it moved to higher ground, and that's the lesson for fruit here: a river floor is still a floor.

Maumee plans for −17°F at 635 feet, 50 feet above its floor, and reads 2°F warmer than downtown on a bloom night. Perrysburg, 40 feet up, plans for −17°F and reads about even; Rossford, 40 feet up, −16°F and about even. Glenwood, 3 miles south of Rossford and only 10 feet above its floor, reads 4°F colder. Upstream the floor takes over. Waterville, on the west bank opposite the rapids called Pray's Falls, sits right on the floor at 616 feet on our map, plans for −19°F and reads 4°F colder; Otsego, 5 miles southwest, reads 6°F colder; Grand Rapids plans for −19°F and reads 2°F colder.

The higher streets in Maumee, Perrysburg and Rossford are the spots on this stretch for pears, plums and peaches. In the bottoms at Waterville or Otsego, stick to apples, haskap and bush fruit.

Oregon, Point Place and the Maumee Bay shore

Oregon plans for −14°F (5b) at 605 feet with a typical winter around 0°F, and reads 1°F warmer than downtown on a bloom night. Harbor View and Birmingham plan for −14°F, and Ironville, on the shore northeast of downtown, reads 5°F warmer, second only to Glanntown among the named places we checked. Point Place, at Toledo's north end on the shore, plans for −16°F and reads 2°F warmer, and Immergrun, out toward Maumee Bay State Park, 3°F warmer. Pearson Metropark and Maumee Bay State Park keep or rebuild pieces of the old Black Swamp forest out here.

Back from the water the spring help fades fast. Northwood, 5 miles south of Ironville, reads 2°F colder than downtown, Walbridge and Millbury 3°F colder, and Woodville Gardens, down on its floor near Northwood, 6°F colder. The winter number holds up better: Northwood still plans for −16°F. The shore strip from Point Place to Harbor View, plus Oregon's and East Toledo's warm blocks, is the best ground on the map for apricots, peaches, sweet cherries and pears. We haven't found published bloom dates for this shore, so we can't say how much the bay holds bloom back.

Monroe, Luna Pier and Temperance

Monroe sits where the River Raisin, named by the French for the wild grapes on its banks, meets Lake Erie, and its lakeshore, at 571 feet, is the lowest point in Michigan. Monroe plans for −16°F (5a) with a typical winter of −3°F, and reads about even with downtown Toledo on a bloom night. West of town, Carrington Farms and Sweet Briar sit on river-bottom ground, plan for −18°F and read 4°F colder. The shore runs the other way: Avalon Beach, 4 miles south, reads 4°F warmer than downtown Toledo, Bolles Harbor and Luna Pier 3°F warmer and Woodland Beach 2°F warmer, with winter numbers of −16°F to −17°F.

Inland, Bedford Township drains southeast to the lake through Halfway, Flat, Little Lake and Bay creeks. Temperance plans for −17°F and reads 3°F colder than downtown; Lambertville, 40 feet above its floor, plans for −17°F; Erie Township −16°F and 1°F colder. Farther west, Whiteford Township plans for −18°F and reads 5°F colder, and Petersburg, on river-bottom ground, −19°F. North of here, the Ann Arbor and Metro Detroit map picks up.

Bowling Green and the Black Swamp farm country

South of the Maumee lies the heart of the old Great Black Swamp, drained between 1859 and 1885 with ditches and clay tile. Much of the plain around Bowling Green, Pemberville and Luckey is very poorly drained clay. The Hoytville soil, with its type location in Wood County, holds water at or near the surface from January into April, and it still grows tomatoes and sugar beets.

Bowling Green, at 690 feet, plans for −15°F, right on the line between 5a and 5b, with a typical winter of −2°F, and reads 2°F colder than downtown Toledo on a bloom night. That's about 2.5°F warmer than the farm ground around it, where the floor plans for −17°F. Its station, with 124 years on file, bottomed out at −22°F on February 5, 1918, the date Monroe's station set its −21°F record too. It doesn't always track Toledo Express: on February 20, 2015 it read −8°F while Toledo Express, within a foot of the same height, read −19°F, and we haven't found a published explanation. Luckey plans for −15°F (5b), Gibsonburg −16°F, Pemberville on its river bottom −19°F and Custar −20°F (4b). Cloverdale, a river bottom about 5 miles southeast of Bowling Green, reads 6°F colder than downtown in spring.

On this clay, drainage decides more than the winter number does. Dig a hole 2 feet deep, fill it, let it drain, fill it again: under 10 hours is well drained. Settlers built on the river banks and sand ridges, and that's still where we'd put fruit trees.

Blissfield, Riga and the Lenawee County corner

Blissfield, on river-bottom ground at 693 feet, plans for −24°F (4b), with a typical winter of −8°F, and reads 4°F colder than downtown on a bloom night. That's colder than anything the Blissfield 1NNE station recorded in its 10 winters; its coldest was −20°F. Riga, Palmyra and Ogden plan for −22°F. Just off the map, the Adrian 2 NNE station, with 123 years on file at 760 feet, holds a record of −26°F from January 20, 1892. Higher ground helps a little: Raisin Center, 60 feet above its floor, plans for −19°F.

Most of our list still clears here: anything rated −25°F or colder, including peaches like Contender and Blushingstar (−30°F). Blushingstar came through −25°F at our place on January 13, 2024 without damage. With spring readings 3°F to 5°F colder than downtown, though, apples, tart cherries, haskap and currants are the steadier bets.

Spring frost and bloom around Toledo

Open blossoms of apple, pear, cherry, peach, apricot and plum all start dying at about 28°F (Michigan State's numbers). A tree doesn't need much to make a crop, though: only about 15 percent of apple blossoms need to set, and fully open haskap flowers take 19°F. MacQueen's 24°F at full bloom was well under the 28°F line, and they still picked close to half a crop. NC State's fruit people say 3°F to 4°F can separate no crop from a full one, which is why the spring layer's minus numbers matter.

NOAA station records give these 1991 to 2020 medians. At the Toledo Executive Airport station (620 feet) the last 32°F comes April 23 and the last 28°F April 10, and the first fall 32°F October 23, for 177 frost free days. At Toledo Express (674 feet, west of the city) it's April 26, April 10 and October 18, 172 days. One spring in ten, the last 32°F at both comes as late as May 13, so a frost as late as MacQueen's isn't unheard of. Neither airport sits downtown. The Bowling Green WWTP station runs April 25 to October 22, 176 days. In Monroe County, the Newport 4SSE station, at 578 feet, runs April 30 to October 23, 174 days.

Lakes do less for the last spring freeze than for the first fall freeze, a National Weather Service freeze study notes, and Newport fits: its last spring 32°F comes a week after Toledo Executive's, its first fall 32°F the same day. For a local clock, the Maumee's walleye run starts as the water reaches 40°F to 50°F and peaks around the first week of April, a few days before the last 28°F at the airports. Late cold still comes: on April 16, 2014, after an inch of snow, Toledo Express hit 19°F, a record for the date.

Site comes first; the FAO's frost protection manual calls it the single most important method of frost protection. Apricots, peaches and sweet cherries go highest and warmest, apples and haskap lower. Through bloom, mow under 2 inches, don't till, and water a day or two before a frost. Frost cloth of 0.9 ounces per square yard gains about 6°F. Fall counts too: the same Michigan tart cherry buds that died at about −12°F in November survived about −20°F in January. Go easy on late nitrogen and late water, and don't prune apricots or peaches in winter.

What the weather records say

Toledo's record low, −20°F, came on January 21, 1984 at Toledo Express. The old Toledo Blade station, with 90 years on file between 1890 and 1988, never went below −16°F, and it hit that three times, last on January 21, 1985. Toledo Executive Airport's coldest is −16°F (January 16, 2009). On February 12, 2014, under calm wind and patchy freezing fog, Toledo Express hit −14°F, beating a daily record of −10°F, in what became Toledo's snowiest winter on record, 86.3 inches by mid-April.

USDA's 2023 map is built on the average of each winter's coldest night. Our typical winter is that kind of average: about 0°F downtown, −2°F in Bowling Green, −3°F in Monroe, −8°F in Blissfield. The planning low sits 13°F to 16°F below it, which is why our zones read colder than USDA's.

What you can grow here

Most of what we sell clears winter on this map: nearly all our apples, pears, plums, cherries, peaches and apricots are rated −25°F or colder. Every plant on our site is rated to the coldest temperature it has actually come through, not an average. So choose by spring: the warmer your bloom-night reading, the earlier the bloomer you can plant.

Central Toledo, East Toledo, Oregon and the bay shore (−13°F to −16°F)

Everything clears except the Chicago Hardy Fig (−10°F), worth a try where the map says −15°F or warmer, close to a south wall. On ground about even with downtown or warmer, plant apricots like Harlayne, Tomcot and Goldrich; peaches like Contender, Redstar and Glohaven; nectarines like Hardired and Flavortop; sweet cherries like Bing, Lapins and Black Gold; plums like Shiro and Santa Rosa; and pears like Seckel, Harrow Sweet and Bartlett. Apples like Newtown Pippin, Roxbury Russet, Stayman Winesap and Baldwin all clear, and so do the Montana Trial Pawpaw (−30°F) and Javid's Iranian Almond (−20°F).

The suburbs, the river towns and the farm plain (−16°F to −20°F)

That's most of the map, from Perrysburg, Maumee, Sylvania and Holland to Monroe, Temperance, Waterville and the farm ground around Bowling Green. The whole list clears except the fig, with the −20°F group (Bing, Baldwin, Santa Rosa, Flavortop, Javid's) right at its limit around Monclova and Berkey, and only worth a try at Custar. Where the spring reading is even with downtown or better, plant the same early bloomers, plus Italian and Stanley plums. On the ordinary flat, 2°F to 4°F colder, lean on apples like Honeycrisp, Liberty, Freedom, Northern Spy, Golden Russet and Zestar!®, and tart cherries like Montmorency and Balaton.

Blissfield, Riga, Metamora and the cold northwest (−20°F to −24°F)

Here the −20°F group drops to worth a try, in your best spot. Plant apples like Haralson, Honeycrisp and Wealthy; Kerr and Trailman applecrabs (if you only plant one tree, make it one of these); and tart cherries like Evans Bali and Meteor. Save stone fruit and pears for a rise that reads better in spring than the ground around it.

Frost pockets anywhere on the map

Where the spring reading is 4°F or more colder than downtown, plant what forgives a spring frost: honeyberry (haskap), Red Lake and Montana Black currants, Invicta and Hinnomaki Red gooseberries, aronia, elderberry, Boyne raspberries and apples. Red Lake and Montana Black fruited well at our place in 2026 after their flower buds saw about 22°F. Keep pears and stone fruit off that ground.

Roots are the weak link in a dormant tree, and snow is thin here (Toledo averages about 37 inches a season, Bowling Green about 21), so mulch the root zone. On clay, test drainage and plant on the better-drained rises and banks; on sand, plan on drip. OSU Extension's Lucas County office at the Toledo Botanical Garden sells soil test kits, and the NRCS Web Soil Survey shows if your lot is Toledo clay, Hoytville clay or sand. Toka is a good pollenizer for Superior, and our pollination maps show the rest.

Fruit history here

Monroe was a nursery town. The Monroe Nursery, run by I.E. Ilgenfritz Sons and Co., dates from 1847; its fourth-generation owner, James I.E. Ilgenfritz II, died in 2009, and it was known for fruit trees, ornamentals and roses. Greening Bros. Nursery Co. of Monroe published a guide for fruit growers and landscapers in 1904. Monroe County has places called Grape and Hillcrest Orchard, Toledo has its Old Orchard neighborhood, and MacQueen Orchards in Holland has been a family farm since 1936. A Heinz ketchup plant ran in Bowling Green until 1975.

Questions people ask

What growing zone is Toledo, Ohio?

Downtown Toledo plans for −14°F, MFTC zone 5b. The map runs from 5b in the old city, East Toledo and Oregon to 4b around Blissfield and Riga; Perrysburg, Maumee, Sylvania and Monroe are 5a. USDA's zone reads warmer because it's based on an average winter; ours is based on the bad night we plan for.

When is the last frost in Toledo?

At the Toledo Executive Airport station, NOAA station records for 1991 to 2020 put the median last 32°F at April 23; at Toledo Express, west of the city, it's April 26. The last 28°F comes April 10 at both, and one spring in ten the last 32°F comes as late as May 13.

Can you grow peaches in Toledo?

Yes. Contender and Blushingstar (−30°F) clear the planning low at every named place we checked. Bloom is the risk, not winter, so plant them where the spring reading is even with downtown or warmer: the shore from Point Place to Harbor View, the old city's warm blocks, the higher streets in Maumee and Perrysburg.

Does Lake Erie protect Toledo from frost?

Some, mostly right on the shore and mostly in spring and fall. The western basin usually freezes by midwinter, and a frozen lake doesn't help. On a still bloom night our map has most of the shore strip 1°F to 5°F warmer than downtown, but Northwood, 5 miles south of Ironville, already reads 2°F colder.

Why is Toledo Express so cold?

It runs a median 5°F colder than the old Toledo Blade station on the year's coldest night, and Toledo's −20°F record low was set there. We haven't found a published explanation. It sits west of the city in Swanton and Monclova townships, away from the lake and downtown's heat, and that fits the rest of the map.

Where are the frost pockets around Toledo?

The low floors, river bottoms and draws. On a still bloom night the Ottawa neighborhood in west Toledo reads 7°F colder than downtown; Otsego, Cloverdale and Woodville Gardens 6°F colder; Metamora 5°F colder and Highland Heights 4°F to 5°F colder. On the warm side, Glanntown and Ironville read 5°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.