One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us estimate 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 Pella you should be able to estimate when it's the best time to plant borage.

Planting Calendar for Borage

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

Borage are moderately cold tolerant which tells us that you can plant them earlier than other plants that might not handle the cold.

The earliest that you can plant borage in Pella 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 borage and expect a good harvest is probably September. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your borage may not have a chance to fully mature. If you are starting your borage indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

In Pella the average date of last frost happens on April 15. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of -15°F.

Just be sure to remember that USDA zone info for Pella is not always accurate and the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Pella it frosts late in the year after April 15 be ready to protect your borage if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Pella

Here is the info for USDA Zone 5b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-15°F
Highest Expected Low	-10°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -15°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -10°F.

Plants to Grow in Pella

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