One of the first steps you take when you are making a decision about your gardening schedule is find your USDA Zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

A common way of determining when it's possible to plant chinese chives is to refer to the USDA zone info for Detroit.

Planting Calendar for Chinese chives

Frost tolerance for chinese chives:	Tolerant of some frost.
When to plant:	Up to 5 weeks before last frost.

Chinese chives are moderately cold tolerant which tells us that you can start planting them earlier than more sensitive plants.

The earliest that you can plant chinese chives in Detroit is February. However, you really should wait until March if you don't want to take any chances.

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

Last Frost Date

In Detroit the average date of last frost happens on April 15. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of -5°F.

Always keep in mind that USDA zone info for Detroit is an average and the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in Detroit there is a last frost after April 15 be ready to cover your chinese chives in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Detroit

Here is the info for USDA Zone 6b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-5°F
Highest Expected Low	0°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -5°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 0°F.

Plants to Grow in Detroit

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