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

The USDA zone info for Grand Rapids should be read to determine when it's a good idea to plant firebush.

Planting Calendar for Firebush

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

It's not a good idea to plant firebush until after all chance of frost has passed because they are not cold tolerant.

The earliest that you can plant firebush in Grand Rapids is May. However, you really should wait until June if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant firebush and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your firebush may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your firebush indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is May 15 in Grand Rapids. You should expect an average low temperature of -35°F in 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 Grand Rapids and it can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Grand Rapids it frosts late in the year after May 15 be ready to protect your firebush in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Grand Rapids

Here is the info for USDA Zone 3b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	May 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	September 15
Lowest Expected Low	-35°F
Highest Expected Low	-30°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -35°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -30°F.

Plants to Grow in Grand Rapids

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Grand Rapids.