One of the first steps you take when you are determining 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.

By using the USDA zone info for Lansing it's a good idea to determine when it's the best time to plant zinnia.

Planting Calendar for Zinnia

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

Since zinnia require warm weather you really should wait until after the last frost before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant zinnia in Lansing 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 zinnia and expect a good harvest is probably August. Any later than that and your zinnia may not have a chance to grow to maturity. If you are starting your zinnia indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Lansing. You should expect an average low temperature of -10°F in the coldest months of winter.

It's important to remember that USDA zone info for Lansing is an average and the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Lansing last frost occurs after April 15 so make sure that you are ready to cover your zinnia in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Lansing

Here is the info for USDA Zone 6a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-10°F
Highest Expected Low	-5°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -10°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -5°F.

Plants to Grow in Lansing

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