When to Plant Hosta in Duluth, MN

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

One way of figuring out when it's a good idea to plant hosta is to check out the USDA zone info for Duluth.


Planting Calendar for Hosta

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

You can plant hosta a little bit earlier in the year because they are moderately cold tolerant.

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

The earliest that you can plant hosta in Duluth 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. If you are starting your hosta indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average all chance of frost has passed is on May 15 in Duluth. It might get as low as -30°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Duluth may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Duluth you get surprised by a frost after May 15 so make sure that you are ready to protect your hosta if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Duluth

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 Duluth

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