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.

In Ann Arbor you can determine when it's possible to plant thyme by reviewing the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Thyme

Frost tolerance for thyme:	Very tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	Up to 7 weeks before last frost.

Thyme are one of those plants that can tolerate quite a bit of cold weather which means that you can get them planted much earlier than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

The earliest that you can plant thyme in Ann Arbor is February. However, you really should wait until March if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant thyme and expect a good harvest is probably September. Any later than that and your thyme may not have a chance to grow to maturity. If you are starting your thyme indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

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

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