When to Plant Lemon balm in Lansing, MI

One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us figure out 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.

You can figure out when to plant lemon balm in Lansing by reviewing the USDA zone info.


Planting Calendar for Lemon balm

Frost tolerance for lemon balm: Tolerant of a very small amount of frost.
When to plant: Up to 3 weeks before last frost.

Lemon balm are one of those plants that can tolerate a tiny bit of cold weather which tells us that you can plant them slightly earlier than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

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

The earliest that you can plant lemon balm in Lansing is March. However, you really should wait until April if you don't want to take any chances.

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

Last Frost Date

In Lansing the average date of last frost happens on April 15. It might get as low as -15°F during the coldest months of winter.

It's important to remember that the actual date of last frost is an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Lansing and it can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Lansing you get surprised by a frost after April 15 so always be ready to protect your lemon balm in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for 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 Lansing

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