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

In Fort Dodge you can figure out when it's possible to plant begonias by referring to the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Begonias

Frost tolerance for begonias:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After the last frost has passed.

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

The earliest that you can plant begonias in Fort Dodge 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 begonias and expect a good harvest is probably August. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your begonias may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your begonias indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Fort Dodge. It might get as low as -20°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Fort Dodge is just an average the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Fort Dodge you get a frost after April 15 so make sure that you are prepared to cover your begonias in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Fort Dodge

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 Fort Dodge

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Fort Dodge.