One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us estimate your gardening schedule is the USDA zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

A common way of determining when it's a good idea to plant fanflower is to refer to the USDA zone info for Dowagiac.

Planting Calendar for Fanflower

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

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

The earliest that you can plant fanflower in Dowagiac 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 fanflower and expect a good harvest is probably August. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your fanflower may not have a chance to fully mature. Starting your fanflower indoors is a great way to get them started a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

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

Just be sure to remember that USDA zone info for Dowagiac is not always accurate and the actual date of last frost is different every year. Since half of the time in Dowagiac it frosts late in the year after April 15 be ready to cover your fanflower in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Dowagiac

Here is the info for USDA Zone 5b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-15°F
Highest Expected Low	-10°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -15°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -10°F.

Plants to Grow in Dowagiac

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