One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us determine 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.

By using the USDA zone info for Lake Elmo it's possible to figure out when to plant strawflowers.

Planting Calendar for Strawflowers

Frost tolerance for strawflowers:	Tolerant of a very small amount of frost.
When to plant:	Up to 3 weeks before last frost.

Since strawflowers are barely cold tolerant you can plant them a bit earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant strawflowers in Lake Elmo 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 strawflowers and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your strawflowers may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your strawflowers indoors.

Last Frost Date

In Lake Elmo the average date of last frost happens on May 15. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of -25°F.

Remember that USDA zone info for Lake Elmo is just an average and the actual date of last frost is different every year. Since half of the time in Lake Elmo you get surprised by a frost after May 15 be ready to cover your strawflowers in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Lake Elmo

Here is the info for USDA Zone 4b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	May 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	September 15
Lowest Expected Low	-25°F
Highest Expected Low	-20°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -25°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -20°F.

Plants to Grow in Lake Elmo

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Lake Elmo.