Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to determine your garden schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

A way of figuring out when it's a good idea to plant dusty miller is to use the USDA zone info for Decorah.

Planting Calendar for Dusty Miller

Frost tolerance for dusty miller:	Very tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	Up to 7 weeks before last frost.

Dusty Miller do well in cold which tells us that you can get them planted much earlier than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

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

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost has passed is on May 15 in Decorah. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of -25°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Decorah is not always accurate the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in Decorah you get a frost after May 15 be ready to cover your dusty miller if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Decorah

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 Decorah

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