One of the first steps you take when you are determining 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.

In Manistee you can figure out when to plant cardinal flower by using the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Cardinal Flower

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

Cardinal Flower require warm weather which tells us that it is important to wait until it warms up after the last frost when the weather gets warmer before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant cardinal flower in Manistee 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 cardinal flower and expect a good harvest is probably August. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your cardinal flower may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your cardinal flower indoors.

Last Frost Date

In Manistee the average date of last frost happens on April 15. It might get as low as -10°F during the coldest months of winter.

Always keep in mind that the actual date of last frost is an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Manistee and it can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Manistee it frosts late in the year after April 15 so just be sure to be ready to protect your cardinal flower in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Manistee

Here is the info for USDA Zone 6a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-10°F
Highest Expected Low	-5°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -10°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -5°F.

Plants to Grow in Manistee

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