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

In Ottawa you can figure out when it's a good idea to plant flowering maple by using the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Flowering Maple

Frost tolerance for flowering maple:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After the last frost has passed.

Since flowering maple are not cold tolerant it is necessary to wait until after the last frost before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant flowering maple in Ottawa 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 flowering maple and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your flowering maple may not have a chance to really do well. Starting your flowering maple indoors is a great way to get them started a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost when the weather gets warmer is on April 15 in Ottawa. It might get as low as -15°F during the coldest months of winter.

It's important to remember that USDA zone info for Ottawa is just an average and the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Ottawa there is a last frost after April 15 so just be sure to be ready to protect your flowering maple in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Ottawa

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 Ottawa

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