One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us figure out your gardening schedule is the USDA zone info. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

A common way of making a decision about when you can plant digitalis is to refer to the USDA zone info for Rochester.

Planting Calendar for Digitalis

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

Digitalis are moderately cold tolerant which means that you can plant them a little bit earlier than more sensitive plants.

The earliest that you can plant digitalis in Rochester 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 digitalis and expect a good harvest is probably September. Any later than that and your digitalis may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your digitalis indoors.

Last Frost Date

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

Since the USDA zone info for Rochester is an average the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Rochester it frosts late in the year after April 15 so just be sure to be ready to protect your digitalis in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Rochester

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 Rochester

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