One of the first steps you take when you are estimating 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.

By reviewing the USDA zone info for Merrill you should be able to determine when it's the best time to plant lupine.

Planting Calendar for Lupine

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

Lupine do ok in moderate cold which means that 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 lupine 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 lupine and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your lupine may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your lupine indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost is on May 15 in Merrill. It might get as low as -30°F during the coldest months of winter.

Just be sure to remember that USDA zone info for Merrill may not be accurate from year to year and the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in Merrill you get surprised by a frost after May 15 be ready to cover your lupine in the event of 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.