When to Plant Fountain Grass in Birmingham, MI

One of the first steps you take when you are getting a good idea 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.

In Birmingham you can figure out when it's possible to plant fountain grass by referring to the USDA zone info.


Planting Calendar for Fountain Grass

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

Since fountain grass are one of those plants that can tolerate a tiny bit of cold weather you can plant them just a tiny bit earlier in the year than other plants that might not handle the cold.

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

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

Last Frost Date

In Birmingham the average date of last frost happens on April 15. It might get as low as -10°F during the coldest months of winter.

Remember that the actual date of last frost is not always accurate because it is based on the USDA zone info for Birmingham and it can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Birmingham there is a last frost after April 15 be ready to protect your fountain grass if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Birmingham

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 Birmingham

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Birmingham.