One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us determine your gardening schedule is the USDA zone info. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

A way of making a decision about when it's possible to plant geranium is to refer to the USDA zone info for Smithville.

Planting Calendar for Geranium

Frost tolerance for geranium:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After the last frost.

It's probably a bad idea to plant geranium until after all chance of frost has passed because they are not cold tolerant.

The earliest that you can plant geranium in Smithville 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 geranium and expect a good harvest is probably August. Any later than that and your geranium may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your geranium indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average all chance of frost has passed is on April 15 in Smithville. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of -15°F.

Just be sure to remember that the actual date of last frost is an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Smithville and it is different every year. Since half of the time in Smithville you get surprised by a frost after April 15 be ready to protect your geranium in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Smithville

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 Smithville

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