One of the first steps you take when you are determining your gardening schedule is find your USDA Zone info. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

In Alpena you can estimate when it's possible to plant torenia by reviewing the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Torenia

Frost tolerance for torenia:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After the last frost when the weather gets warmer.

Torenia do not do well in cold weather which means that you must wait until it warms up after the last frost before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant torenia in Alpena is April. However, you really should wait until May if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant torenia and expect a good harvest is probably August. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your torenia may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your torenia indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Alpena. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of -15°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Alpena is just an average the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in Alpena there is a last frost after April 15 be ready to protect your torenia in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Alpena

Here is the info for USDA Zone 5b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-15°F
Highest Expected Low	-10°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -15°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -10°F.

Plants to Grow in Alpena

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Alpena.