One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us figure out your gardening schedule is the USDA zone info. 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 tithonia in Milwaukee can be estimated by referring to the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Tithonia

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

It's not a good idea to plant tithonia until after the last frost when the weather gets warmer because they are not cold tolerant.

The earliest that you can plant tithonia in Milwaukee 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 tithonia and expect a good harvest is probably August. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your tithonia may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your tithonia indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost is on April 15 in Milwaukee. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of -15°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Milwaukee is just an average the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Milwaukee there is a last frost after April 15 so make sure that you are ready to cover your tithonia if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Milwaukee

Here is the info for USDA Zone 5b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-15°F
Highest Expected Low	-10°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -15°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -10°F.

Plants to Grow in Milwaukee

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