When to Plant Borage in Norwalk, IA

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.

You should be able to estimate when it's a good idea to plant borage by referring to the USDA zone info for Norwalk.


Planting Calendar for Borage

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

Borage are moderately cold tolerant which means that you can plant them a little bit earlier than more sensitive plants.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Legend 
A good time to plant borage
Possibly ok, but a risky time to plant borage
Probably not a good time to plant borage

The earliest that you can plant borage in Norwalk is February. However, you really should wait until March if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant borage and expect a good harvest is probably September. Any later than that and your borage may not have a chance to really do well. If you are starting your borage indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

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

Since the USDA zone info for Norwalk may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Norwalk you get a frost after April 15 be ready to cover your borage if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Norwalk

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 Norwalk

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