The USDA Zone info is a great tool for gardeners to help us estimate your gardening schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

In Madison you can estimate when it's the best time to plant rhubarb by checking out the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Rhubarb

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

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

The earliest that you can plant rhubarb in Madison 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 rhubarb and expect a good harvest is probably September. Any later than that and your rhubarb may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your rhubarb indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Madison. You should expect an average low temperature of -10°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Madison is an average the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Madison it frosts late in the year after April 15 so make sure that you are prepared to protect your rhubarb if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Madison

Here is the info for USDA Zone 6a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-10°F
Highest Expected Low	-5°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -10°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -5°F.

Plants to Grow in Madison

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