One of the first steps you take when you are estimating your gardening schedule is find your USDA Zone info. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

A common way of determining when to plant coleus is to check out the USDA zone info for Mitchell.

Planting Calendar for Coleus

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

You can not plant coleus until after the last frost has passed because they are not cold tolerant.

The earliest that you can plant coleus in Mitchell 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 coleus and expect a good harvest is probably August. Any later than that and your coleus may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your coleus indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost when the weather gets warmer is on May 15 in Mitchell. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of -25°F.

Just be sure to remember that USDA zone info for Mitchell is just an average and the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Mitchell you get a frost after May 15 be ready to protect your coleus in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Mitchell

Here is the info for USDA Zone 4b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	May 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	September 15
Lowest Expected Low	-25°F
Highest Expected Low	-20°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -25°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -20°F.

Plants to Grow in Mitchell

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