When to Plant Cleome in Grand Rapids, MI

Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to estimate your garden schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

The first chance to plant cleome in Grand Rapids should be estimated by using the USDA zone info.


Planting Calendar for Cleome

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

Since cleome do not do well in cold weather you really should wait until after the last frost when the weather gets warmer before you can plant them.

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

The earliest that you can plant cleome in Grand Rapids 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 cleome and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your cleome may not have a chance to fully mature. If you are starting your cleome indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average all chance of frost has passed is on April 15 in Grand Rapids. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of -10°F.

Remember that USDA zone info for Grand Rapids is just an average and the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Grand Rapids last frost occurs after April 15 so make sure that you are ready to cover your cleome if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Grand Rapids

Here is the info for USDA Zone 6a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)October 15
Lowest Expected Low-10°F
Highest Expected Low-5°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -10°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -5°F.

Plants to Grow in Grand Rapids

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Grand Rapids.