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.

The earliest that you can plant hardy hibiscus in Ionia can be determined by checking out the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Hardy Hibiscus

Frost tolerance for hardy hibiscus:	Very tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	Up to 7 weeks before last frost.

Since hardy hibiscus do well in cold you can plant them earlier in the year than more sensitive plants.

The earliest that you can plant hardy hibiscus in Ionia is February. However, you really should wait until March if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant hardy hibiscus and expect a good harvest is probably September. Any later than that and your hardy hibiscus may not have a chance to fully mature. If you are starting your hardy hibiscus indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost has passed is on April 15 in Ionia. You can expect an average low temperature of -15°F in the coldest months of winter.

Remember that USDA zone info for Ionia may not be accurate from year to year and the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Ionia there is a last frost after April 15 so be sure to be ready to protect your hardy hibiscus if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Ionia

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 Ionia

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Ionia.