One of the first steps you take when you are estimating your gardening schedule is find your USDA Zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

A way of determining when it's the best time to plant coleus is to refer to the USDA zone info for Lapeer.

Planting Calendar for Coleus

Frost tolerance for coleus:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After the last frost when the weather gets warmer.

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

The earliest that you can plant coleus in Lapeer 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 coleus and expect a good harvest is probably August. Any later than that and your coleus may not have a chance to really do well. Starting your coleus indoors is a great way to get them started a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost is on April 15 in Lapeer. It might get as low as -15°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Lapeer is not always accurate the actual date of last frost is different every year. Half of the time in Lapeer last frost occurs after April 15 so just be sure to be ready to protect your coleus if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Lapeer

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 Lapeer

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