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.

One way of determining when you can plant rhubarb is to check out the USDA zone info for Dayton.

Planting Calendar for Rhubarb

Frost tolerance for rhubarb:	Tolerant of some frost.
When to plant:	Up to 5 weeks before last frost.

Since rhubarb are one of those plants that can tolerate a little bit of cold weather you can plant them a little bit earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant rhubarb in Dayton 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 rhubarb and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your rhubarb may not have a chance to really do well. If you are starting your rhubarb indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

In Dayton the average date of last frost happens on May 15. You should expect an average low temperature of -25°F in the coldest months of winter.

It's important to remember that USDA zone info for Dayton is just an average and the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Dayton last frost occurs after May 15 so always be ready to cover your rhubarb in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Dayton

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 Dayton

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