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 Maquoketa you can determine when it's the best time to plant peonies by looking at the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Peonies

Frost tolerance for peonies:	Tolerant of a very small amount of frost.
When to plant:	Up to 3 weeks before last frost.

You can plant peonies slightly earlier in the year because they do ok in moderate cold.

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

The last month that you can plant peonies and expect a good harvest is probably August. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your peonies may not have a chance to grow to maturity. Starting your peonies indoors is a great way to get them started a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost has passed is on April 15 in Maquoketa. It might get as low as -20°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Maquoketa is an average the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Maquoketa there is a last frost after April 15 so make sure that you are prepared to protect your peonies if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Maquoketa

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 Maquoketa

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