One of the first steps you take when you are getting a good idea your gardening schedule is find your USDA Zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

One way of estimating when it's a good idea to plant geranium is to refer to the USDA zone info for Shorewood.

Planting Calendar for Geranium

Frost tolerance for geranium:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After all chance of frost has passed.

It's probably not a good idea to plant geranium until after the last frost when the weather gets warmer because they are not cold tolerant.

The earliest that you can plant geranium in Shorewood 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 geranium and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your geranium may not have a chance to really do well. If you are starting your geranium indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

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

It's important to remember that USDA zone info for Shorewood is not always accurate and the actual date of last frost is different every year. Half of the time in Shorewood you get surprised by a frost after April 15 so just be sure to be ready to cover your geranium in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Shorewood

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 Shorewood

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