One of the first steps you take when you are figuring out your gardening schedule is find your 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 common way of determining when it's a good idea to plant schizanthus is to refer to the USDA zone info for Menasha.

Planting Calendar for Schizanthus

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

You can not plant schizanthus until after the last frost has passed because they are not cold tolerant.

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

Last Frost Date

In Menasha the average date of last frost happens on April 15. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of -20°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Menasha is just an average the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Menasha it frosts late in the year after April 15 be ready to protect your schizanthus if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Menasha

Here is the info for USDA Zone 5a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-20°F
Highest Expected Low	-15°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -20°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -15°F.

Plants to Grow in Menasha

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