One of the first steps you take when you are estimating 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.

The USDA zone info for Rensselaer can be used to estimate when it's the best time to plant geranium.

Planting Calendar for Geranium

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

You really shouldn't plant geranium until after the last frost when the weather gets warmer because they require warm weather.

The earliest that you can plant geranium in Rensselaer 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. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your geranium may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your geranium indoors.

Last Frost Date

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

Keep in mind that USDA zone info for Rensselaer is not always accurate and the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Rensselaer you get surprised by a frost after April 15 so make sure that you are ready to protect your geranium if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Rensselaer

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 Rensselaer

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