The USDA Zone info is a great tool for gardeners to help us determine your gardening 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 estimating when you can plant calliopsis is to consult the USDA zone info for Benton Harbor.

Planting Calendar for Calliopsis

Frost tolerance for calliopsis:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After the last frost.

Since calliopsis require warm weather you need to wait until after the last frost when the weather gets warmer before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant calliopsis in Benton Harbor 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 calliopsis and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your calliopsis may not have a chance to grow to maturity. If you are starting your calliopsis 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 Benton Harbor. It might get as low as -5°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Benton Harbor may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Benton Harbor last frost occurs after April 15 be ready to protect your calliopsis in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Benton Harbor

Here is the info for USDA Zone 6b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-5°F
Highest Expected Low	0°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -5°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 0°F.

Plants to Grow in Benton Harbor

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Benton Harbor.