When to Plant Hosta in Marlborough, MA

One of the first steps you take when you are determining 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 the best time to plant hosta is to consult the USDA zone info for Marlborough.


Planting Calendar for Hosta

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

Since hosta are moderately cold tolerant you can plant them a little earlier in the year than more sensitive plants.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Legend 
A good time to plant hosta
Possibly ok, but a risky time to plant hosta
Probably not a good time to plant hosta

The earliest that you can plant hosta in Marlborough 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 hosta and expect a good harvest is probably September. Any later than that and your hosta may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your hosta indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Marlborough. It might get as low as -10°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Marlborough is just an average the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Marlborough you get surprised by a frost after April 15 so make sure that you are prepared to cover your hosta in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Marlborough

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 Marlborough

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