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

Planting Calendar for Polygonums

Frost tolerance for polygonums:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After the last frost when the weather gets warmer.

Since polygonums are not cold tolerant it is important to wait until after the last frost before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant polygonums 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 polygonums and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your polygonums may not have a chance to fully mature. Starting your polygonums indoors is a great way to get them started a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost has passed is on April 15 in East Lansing. It might get as low as -15°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for East Lansing may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in East Lansing you get a frost after April 15 so just be sure to be ready to cover your polygonums in the event of one of those late frosts.

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.