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

In Traverse City you can determine when it's a good idea to plant bleeding hearts by checking out the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Bleeding Hearts

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

Since bleeding hearts are barely cold tolerant you can plant them a bit earlier in the year than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

The earliest that you can plant bleeding hearts in Traverse City 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 bleeding hearts and expect a good harvest is probably August. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your bleeding hearts may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your bleeding hearts indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average all chance of frost has passed is on April 15 in Traverse City. You can expect an average low temperature of -10°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Traverse City may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost is different every year. Half of the time in Traverse City there is a last frost after April 15 so be sure to be ready to cover your bleeding hearts if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Traverse City

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 Traverse City

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Traverse City.