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

One way of determining when it's a good idea to plant hollyhocks is to use the USDA zone info for Sturgis.

Planting Calendar for Hollyhocks

Frost tolerance for hollyhocks:	Tolerant of some frost.
When to plant:	Up to 5 weeks before last frost.

Hollyhocks are moderately cold tolerant which means that you can get them planted earlier than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

The earliest that you can plant hollyhocks in Sturgis is February. However, you really should wait until March if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant hollyhocks and expect a good harvest is probably September. If you wait any later than that and your hollyhocks may not have a chance to grow to maturity. If you are starting your hollyhocks indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Sturgis. You should expect an average low temperature of -15°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Sturgis may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Sturgis you get surprised by a frost after April 15 so just be sure to be ready to cover your hollyhocks if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Sturgis

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 Sturgis

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