One of the first steps you take when you are getting a good idea 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.

In Fort Dodge you can determine when it's possible to plant polka dot plant by using the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Polka Dot Plant

Frost tolerance for polka dot plant:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After the last frost.

You should not plant polka dot plant until after the last frost because they do not do well in cold weather.

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

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Fort Dodge. You can expect an average low temperature of -20°F in 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. Since half of the time in Fort Dodge it frosts late in the year after April 15 be ready to cover your polka dot plant in the event of a surprise 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.