One of the first steps you take when you are figuring out 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 Alexandria should be reffered to in order to estimate when it's the best time to plant hosta.

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 bit earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

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

Last Frost Date

In Alexandria the average date of last frost happens on May 15. You should expect an average low temperature of -30°F in the coldest months of winter.

Remember that USDA zone info for Alexandria is an average and the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Alexandria last frost occurs after May 15 so always be ready to cover your hosta in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Alexandria

Here is the info for USDA Zone 4a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	May 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	September 15
Lowest Expected Low	-30°F
Highest Expected Low	-25°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -30°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -25°F.

Plants to Grow in Alexandria

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