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.

One way of figuring out when it's a good idea to plant peonies is to check out the USDA zone info for Hampshire.

Planting Calendar for Peonies

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

Peonies are one of those plants that can tolerate a tiny bit of cold weather which tells us that you can get them planted just a bit earlier than other plants that might not handle the cold.

The earliest that you can plant peonies in Hampshire 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 peonies and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your peonies may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your peonies indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost when the weather gets warmer is on April 15 in Hampshire. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of -15°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Hampshire is just an average the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in Hampshire last frost occurs after April 15 be ready to cover your peonies in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Hampshire

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 Hampshire

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