One of the first steps you take when you are getting a good idea 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 should be able to figure out when it's a good idea to plant painted tongues by reviewing the USDA zone info for Sturgis.

Planting Calendar for Painted Tongues

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

Painted Tongues require warm weather which tells us that it's necessary to wait until it warms up after the last frost before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant painted tongues in Sturgis 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 painted tongues and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your painted tongues may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your painted tongues indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average all chance of frost has passed is on April 15 in Sturgis. You should expect an average low temperature of -20°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Sturgis is an average the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Sturgis last frost occurs after April 15 be ready to protect your painted tongues in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Sturgis

Here is the info for USDA Zone 5a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-20°F
Highest Expected Low	-15°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -20°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -15°F.

Plants to Grow in Sturgis

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