One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us determine 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.

It's a good idea to figure out when to plant scarlet pimpernels by referring to the USDA zone info for Alpena.

Planting Calendar for Scarlet Pimpernels

Frost tolerance for scarlet pimpernels:	Tolerant of a very small amount of frost.
When to plant:	Up to 3 weeks before last frost.

Since scarlet pimpernels do ok in moderate cold you can plant them just a tiny bit earlier in the year than other plants that might not handle the cold.

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

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

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost when the weather gets warmer is on April 15 in Alpena. It might get as low as -15°F during the coldest months of winter.

Keep in mind that USDA zone info for Alpena is an average and the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Alpena you get surprised by a frost after April 15 so make sure that you are prepared to cover your scarlet pimpernels if you have 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.