One of the first steps you take when you are determining 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.

By reviewing the USDA zone info for Maquoketa you should be able to estimate when to plant saxifraga.

Planting Calendar for Saxifraga

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

Saxifraga do ok in moderate cold which tells us that you can get them planted just a bit earlier than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

The earliest that you can plant saxifraga 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 saxifraga and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your saxifraga may not have a chance to grow to maturity. Starting your saxifraga indoors is a great way to get them started a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

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

Since the USDA zone info for Maquoketa is an average the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Maquoketa you get a frost after April 15 be ready to protect your saxifraga in the event of 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.