When to Plant Canna in Traverse City, MI

One of the first steps you take when you are figuring out 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.

You can determine when it's the best time to plant canna in Traverse City by using the USDA zone info.


Planting Calendar for Canna

Frost tolerance for canna: Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant: After all chance of frost has passed.

Canna are not cold tolerant which means that it is important to wait until it warms up after the last frost has passed before you can plant them.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Legend 
A good time to plant canna
Possibly ok, but a risky time to plant canna
Probably not a good time to plant canna

The earliest that you can plant canna in Traverse City 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 canna and expect a good harvest is probably August. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your canna may not have a chance to grow to maturity. If you are starting your canna indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

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

Since the USDA zone info for Traverse City is just an average the actual date of last frost is different every year. Half of the time in Traverse City last frost occurs after April 15 so just be sure to be ready to cover your canna if you have one of those late frosts.

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.