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

By checking out the USDA zone info for Washington you will be able to estimate when you can plant flax.

Planting Calendar for Flax

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

You can plant flax a little bit earlier in the year because they are moderately cold tolerant.

The earliest that you can plant flax in Washington 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 flax and expect a good harvest is probably September. If you wait any later than that and your flax may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your flax indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost has passed is on April 15 in Washington. It might get as low as -15°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Washington is just an average the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Washington you get a frost after April 15 so make sure that you are ready to cover your flax in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Washington

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 Washington

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