When to Plant Borage in Hiawatha, 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.

You should be able to figure out when it's the best time to plant borage by reviewing the USDA zone info for Hiawatha.


Planting Calendar for Borage

Frost tolerance for borage: Tolerant of some frost.
When to plant: Up to 5 weeks before last frost.

Borage do well in some cold which means that you can plant them a little bit earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

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

The earliest that you can plant borage in Hiawatha is February. However, you really should wait until March if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant borage and expect a good harvest is probably September. Any later than that and your borage may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your borage indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Hiawatha. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of -20°F.

Always keep in mind that USDA zone info for Hiawatha is just an average and the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Hiawatha you get surprised by a frost after April 15 be ready to protect your borage in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Hiawatha

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 Hiawatha

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