One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us figure out 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 way of figuring out when it's possible to plant anise is to refer to the USDA zone info for East Lansing.

Planting Calendar for Anise

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

Anise are barely cold tolerant which means that you can start planting them slightly earlier than more sensitive plants.

The earliest that you can plant anise in East Lansing 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 anise and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your anise may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your anise indoors.

Last Frost Date

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

Since the USDA zone info for East Lansing is not always accurate the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in East Lansing last frost occurs after April 15 be ready to cover your anise if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for East Lansing

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 East Lansing

You may be interested in your other planting guides for East Lansing.