When to Plant Hosta in Mason City, IA

The USDA Zone info is a great tool for gardeners to help us figure out your gardening schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

It's possible to estimate when it's possible to plant hosta by checking out the USDA zone info for Mason City.


Planting Calendar for Hosta

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

Hosta tend to make it in a little bit of cold which tells us that you can plant them a little earlier in the year than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

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

The earliest that you can plant hosta in Mason City 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 hosta and expect a good harvest is probably September. If you wait any later than that and your hosta may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your hosta indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost is on April 15 in Mason City. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of -20°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Mason City is an average the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Mason City you get surprised by a frost after April 15 so just be sure to be ready to cover your hosta in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Mason City

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 Mason City

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Mason City.