Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to figure out your garden schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

The best time to plant mimulus in Red Oak should be determined by looking at the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Mimulus

Frost tolerance for mimulus:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After the last frost when the weather gets warmer.

Mimulus are not cold tolerant which tells us that you really should wait until it warms up after all chance of frost has passed before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant mimulus in Red Oak is April. However, you really should wait until May if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant mimulus and expect a good harvest is probably August. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your mimulus may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your mimulus indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average all chance of frost has passed is on April 15 in Red Oak. You can expect an average low temperature of -20°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Red Oak may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost is different every year. Half of the time in Red Oak you get surprised by a frost after April 15 so be sure to be ready to cover your mimulus in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Red Oak

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 Red Oak

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Red Oak.