When to Plant Zinnia in Cottage Grove, MN

One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us figure out 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.

You can figure out when it's the best time to plant zinnia in Cottage Grove by referring to the USDA zone info.


Planting Calendar for Zinnia

Frost tolerance for zinnia: Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant: After the last frost when the weather gets warmer.

Zinnia are not cold tolerant which means that it's necessary to wait until it warms up after the last frost when the weather gets warmer before you can plant them.

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

The earliest that you can plant zinnia in Cottage Grove is May. However, you really should wait until June if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant zinnia and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your zinnia may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your zinnia indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost is on May 15 in Cottage Grove. It might get as low as -25°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Cottage Grove is not always accurate the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Cottage Grove last frost occurs after May 15 so always be ready to cover your zinnia in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Cottage Grove

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 Cottage Grove

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Cottage Grove.