When to Plant Primula in Decorah, IA

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.

The USDA zone info for Decorah can be reffered to in order to determine when it's possible to plant primula.


Planting Calendar for Primula

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

Primula do well in cold which tells us that you can get them planted much earlier than other frost tender plants.

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

The earliest that you can plant primula 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 primula and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your primula may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your primula indoors.

Last Frost Date

In Decorah the average date of last frost happens on May 15. It might get as low as -25°F during the coldest months of winter.

Always keep in mind that USDA zone info for Decorah is not always accurate and the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Decorah last frost occurs after May 15 be ready to protect your primula in the event of 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.