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

You should be able to estimate when it's a good idea to plant chrysanthemums by referring to the USDA zone info for East Lansing.

Planting Calendar for Chrysanthemums

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

Since chrysanthemums are barely cold tolerant you can plant them slightly earlier in the year than other plants that might not handle the cold.

The earliest that you can plant chrysanthemums 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 chrysanthemums and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your chrysanthemums may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your chrysanthemums indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost is on April 15 in East Lansing. You should expect an average low temperature of -15°F in the coldest months of winter.

Just be sure to remember that USDA zone info for East Lansing is an average and the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in East Lansing you get a frost after April 15 be ready to cover your chrysanthemums in the event of 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.