Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to figure out your garden schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

The first opportunity to plant hollyhocks in Merrill can be estimated by looking at the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Hollyhocks

Frost tolerance for hollyhocks:	Tolerant of some frost.
When to plant:	Up to 5 weeks before last frost.

Since hollyhocks are moderately cold tolerant you can plant them a little bit earlier in the year than other plants that might not handle the cold.

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

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost when the weather gets warmer is on May 15 in Merrill. You can expect an average low temperature of -30°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Merrill is just an average the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Merrill there is a last frost after May 15 be ready to protect your hollyhocks if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Merrill

Here is the info for USDA Zone 4a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	May 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	September 15
Lowest Expected Low	-30°F
Highest Expected Low	-25°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -30°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -25°F.

Plants to Grow in Merrill

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