One of the first steps you take when you are determining 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.

It's a good idea to estimate when to plant black eyed susans by using the USDA zone info for East Lansing.

Planting Calendar for Black Eyed Susans

Frost tolerance for black eyed susans:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After all chance of frost has passed.

You can not plant black eyed susans until after the last frost because they do not do well in cold weather.

The earliest that you can plant black eyed susans in East Lansing 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 black eyed susans and expect a good harvest is probably August. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your black eyed susans may not have a chance to really do well. If you are starting your black eyed susans indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a little bit earlier.

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.

Just be sure to remember that the actual date of last frost is just an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for East Lansing and it changes from year to year. Half of the time in East Lansing last frost occurs after April 15 so just be sure to be ready to protect your black eyed susans 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.