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 first opportunity to plant schizanthus in Ottawa can be figured out by looking at the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Schizanthus

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

It's probably a bad idea to plant schizanthus until after the last frost because they require warm weather.

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

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost has passed 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 the actual date of last frost is just an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Ottawa and it will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Ottawa there is a last frost after April 15 so be sure to be ready to protect your schizanthus if you have 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.