One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us estimate your gardening schedule is the 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 a good idea to plant firebush is to use the USDA zone info for Milliken.

Planting Calendar for Firebush

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

You should not plant firebush until after the last frost has passed because they require warm weather.

The earliest that you can plant firebush in Milliken 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 firebush and expect a good harvest is probably August. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your firebush may not have a chance to grow to maturity. If you are starting your firebush indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost has passed is on April 15 in Milliken. You should expect an average low temperature of -15°F in the coldest months of winter.

Just be sure to remember that USDA zone info for Milliken is just an average and the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Milliken last frost occurs after April 15 so make sure that you are prepared to protect your firebush if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Milliken

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 Milliken

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