One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us figure out your gardening schedule is the USDA zone info. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

A common way of getting a good idea when it's the best time to plant tagetes is to examine the USDA zone info for Ionia.

Planting Calendar for Tagetes

Frost tolerance for tagetes:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After all chance of frost has passed.

It's a bad idea to plant tagetes until after the last frost when the weather gets warmer because they do not do well in cold weather.

The earliest that you can plant tagetes in Ionia 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 tagetes and expect a good harvest is probably August. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your tagetes may not have a chance to really do well. If you are starting your tagetes indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

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

Since the USDA zone info for Ionia is an average the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in Ionia last frost occurs after April 15 be ready to protect your tagetes in the event of one of those late frosts.

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.