When to Plant Painted Tongues in Decorah, IA

One of the first steps you take when you are estimating 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.

The best time to plant painted tongues in Decorah can be figured out by looking at the USDA zone info.


Planting Calendar for Painted Tongues

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

Painted Tongues are not cold tolerant which means that it's important to wait until it warms up after the last frost has passed before you can plant them.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Legend 
A good time to plant painted tongues
Possibly ok, but a risky time to plant painted tongues
Probably not a good time to plant painted tongues

The earliest that you can plant painted tongues in Decorah is May. However, you really should wait until June if you don't want to take any chances.

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

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost when the weather gets warmer is on May 15 in Decorah. It might get as low as -25°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Decorah is an average the actual date of last frost is different every year. Since half of the time in Decorah last frost occurs after May 15 be ready to cover your painted tongues if you have a surprise 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.