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.

A way of getting a good idea when it's a good idea to plant lunaria is to check out the USDA zone info for Merrill.

Planting Calendar for Lunaria

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

Since lunaria are moderately cold tolerant you can plant them just a bit earlier in the year than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

The earliest that you can plant lunaria 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 lunaria and expect a good harvest is probably August. Any later than that and your lunaria may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your lunaria indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost is on May 15 in Merrill. You should 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 can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Merrill it frosts late in the year after May 15 be ready to protect your lunaria if you have a late frost.

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.