When to Plant Tagetes in Lansing, MI

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

A common way of getting a good idea when you can plant tagetes is to look at the USDA zone info for Lansing.


Planting Calendar for Tagetes

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

Tagetes are not cold tolerant which means that you have 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 tagetes
Possibly ok, but a risky time to plant tagetes
Probably not a good time to plant tagetes

The earliest that you can plant tagetes in 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 tagetes and expect a good harvest is probably August. Any later than that and your tagetes may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your tagetes indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Lansing. It might get as low as -15°F during the coldest months of winter.

Remember that USDA zone info for Lansing 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 Lansing last frost occurs after April 15 so make sure that you are ready to protect your tagetes in the event of a surprise 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.