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When to Plant Red Hot Pokers in Maquoketa, IA

One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us figure out 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 reviewing the USDA zone info for Maquoketa you should be able to estimate 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 tend to make it in quite a bit of cold which tells us that you can plant them earlier in the year than more sensitive plants.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Legend 
A good time to plant red hot pokers
Possibly ok, but a risky time to plant red hot pokers
Probably not a good time to plant red hot pokers

The earliest that you can plant red hot pokers in Maquoketa 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. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your red hot pokers may not have a chance to grow to maturity. If you are starting your red hot pokers indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

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

Remember that USDA zone info for Maquoketa is just an average and 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 ready to protect your red hot pokers if you have one of those late frosts.

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.