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.

The USDA zone info for Steamboat Springs can be looked at to estimate when it's the best time to plant hosta.

Planting Calendar for Hosta

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

Hosta do well in moderate cold which means that you can plant them earlier than other plants that might not handle the cold.

The earliest that you can plant hosta in Steamboat Springs is March. However, you really should wait until April if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant hosta and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your hosta may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your hosta indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is May 15 in Steamboat Springs. It might get as low as -25°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Steamboat Springs is just an average the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Steamboat Springs there is a last frost after May 15 so always be ready to protect your hosta in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Steamboat Springs

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 Steamboat Springs

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Steamboat Springs.