One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us determine your gardening schedule is the USDA zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

By looking at the USDA zone info for Hiawatha it's a good idea to figure out when you can plant red hot pokers.

Planting Calendar for Red Hot Pokers

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

Red Hot Pokers do well in quite a bit of cold which tells us that you can plant them quite a bit earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant red hot pokers 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 red hot pokers and expect a good harvest is probably September. Any later than that and your red hot pokers may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your red hot pokers indoors.

Last Frost Date

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

It's important to remember that USDA zone info for Hiawatha may not be accurate from year to year and the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Hiawatha you get a frost after April 15 so make sure that you are ready to cover your red hot pokers if you have a surprise 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.