When to Plant Chrysanthemums in Ann Arbor, MI

Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to figure out your garden schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

A common way of making a decision about when to plant chrysanthemums is to look at the USDA zone info for Ann Arbor.


Planting Calendar for Chrysanthemums

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

You can plant chrysanthemums a bit earlier in the year because they are one of those plants that can tolerate a tiny bit of cold weather.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Legend 
A good time to plant chrysanthemums
Possibly ok, but a risky time to plant chrysanthemums
Probably not a good time to plant chrysanthemums

The earliest that you can plant chrysanthemums in Ann Arbor 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 chrysanthemums and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your chrysanthemums may not have a chance to really do well. If you are starting your chrysanthemums indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

In Ann Arbor the average date of last frost happens on April 15. You should expect an average low temperature of -10°F in the coldest months of winter.

Just be sure to remember that USDA zone info for Ann Arbor is an average and the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Ann Arbor you get a frost after April 15 so make sure that you are ready to cover your chrysanthemums if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Ann Arbor

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 Ann Arbor

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Ann Arbor.