Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to determine your garden schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

In Brainerd you can determine when it's the best time to plant cosmos by using the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Cosmos

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

Cosmos are barely cold tolerant which tells us that you can get them planted just a bit earlier than other frost tender plants.

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

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is May 15 in Brainerd. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of -35°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Brainerd is just an average the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Brainerd last frost occurs after May 15 so make sure that you are ready to protect your cosmos if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Brainerd

Here is the info for USDA Zone 3b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	May 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	September 15
Lowest Expected Low	-35°F
Highest Expected Low	-30°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -35°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -30°F.

Plants to Grow in Brainerd

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