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When to Plant Tropical Hibiscus in East Lansing, MI

The USDA Zone info is a great tool for gardeners to help us determine your gardening schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

One way of figuring out when you can plant tropical hibiscus is to refer to the USDA zone info for East Lansing.


Planting Calendar for Tropical Hibiscus

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

Tropical Hibiscus require warm weather which means that it's important to wait until it warms up after the last frost when the weather gets warmer before you can plant them.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Legend 
A good time to plant tropical hibiscus
Possibly ok, but a risky time to plant tropical hibiscus
Probably not a good time to plant tropical hibiscus

The earliest that you can plant tropical hibiscus 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 tropical hibiscus and expect a good harvest is probably August. Any later than that and your tropical hibiscus may not have a chance to really do well. If you are starting your tropical hibiscus indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

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

Since the USDA zone info for East Lansing is just an average the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in East Lansing you get surprised by a frost after April 15 so be sure to be ready to cover your tropical hibiscus 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.