One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us estimate your gardening schedule is the USDA zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

The earliest that you can plant peonies in Portage can be estimated by referring to the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Peonies

Frost tolerance for peonies:	Tolerant of a very small amount of frost.
When to plant:	Up to 3 weeks before last frost.

Peonies are one of those plants that can tolerate a tiny bit of cold weather which means that you can get them planted just a bit earlier than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

The earliest that you can plant peonies in Portage is March. However, you really should wait until April if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant peonies and expect a good harvest is probably August. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your peonies may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your peonies indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost when the weather gets warmer is on April 15 in Portage. It might get as low as -10°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Portage is an average the actual date of last frost is different every year. Half of the time in Portage there is a last frost after April 15 so be sure to be ready to cover your peonies if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Portage

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 Portage

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