One of the first steps you take when you are making a decision about 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.

In Albert Lea you can determine when it's a good idea to plant strawflowers by using the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Strawflowers

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

You can plant strawflowers just a tiny bit earlier in the year because they are barely cold tolerant.

The earliest that you can plant strawflowers in Albert Lea 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 strawflowers and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your strawflowers may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your strawflowers indoors.

Last Frost Date

In Albert Lea the average date of last frost happens on May 15. It might get as low as -25°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Albert Lea is just an average the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Albert Lea there is a last frost after May 15 so make sure that you are prepared to protect your strawflowers in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Albert Lea

Here is the info for USDA Zone 4b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	May 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	September 15
Lowest Expected Low	-25°F
Highest Expected Low	-20°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -25°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -20°F.

Plants to Grow in Albert Lea

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Albert Lea.