When to Plant Geranium in Ann Arbor, MI

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.

One way of determining when it's possible to plant geranium is to examine the USDA zone info for Ann Arbor.


Planting Calendar for Geranium

Frost tolerance for geranium: Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant: After the last frost has passed.

It's probably not a good idea to plant geranium until after the last frost when the weather gets warmer because they are not cold tolerant.

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

The earliest that you can plant geranium in Ann Arbor 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 geranium and expect a good harvest is probably August. Any later than that and your geranium may not have a chance to grow to maturity. Starting your geranium indoors is a great way to get them started a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

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

Keep in mind that USDA zone info for Ann Arbor is not always accurate and the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Ann Arbor it frosts late in the year after April 15 be ready to protect your geranium in the event of a surprise late frost.

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.