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.

One way of determining when it's a good idea to plant chrysanthemum is to check out the USDA zone info for Zone 5b.

Planting Calendar for Chrysanthemum

Frost tolerance for chrysanthemum:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After the last frost when the weather gets warmer.

Chrysanthemum do not do well in cold weather which means that you really should wait until it warms up after the last frost has passed before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant chrysanthemum in Zone 5b 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 chrysanthemum and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your chrysanthemum may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your chrysanthemum indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Zone 5b. You can expect an average low temperature of -15°F in the coldest months of winter.

Always keep in mind that USDA zone info for Zone 5b is an average and the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Zone 5b it frosts late in the year after April 15 be ready to protect your chrysanthemum in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Zone 5b

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 Zone 5b

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Zone 5b.