One of the first steps you take when you are estimating your gardening schedule is find your 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 Dubuque should be read to figure out when it's the best time to plant geranium.

Planting Calendar for Geranium

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

Since geranium are not cold tolerant you must wait until after the last frost when the weather gets warmer before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant geranium in Dubuque 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 geranium and expect a good harvest is probably August. Any later than that and your geranium may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your geranium indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost when the weather gets warmer is on April 15 in Dubuque. You should expect an average low temperature of -20°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Dubuque may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Dubuque you get a frost after April 15 so make sure that you are prepared to protect your geranium in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Dubuque

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 Dubuque

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