One of the first steps you take when you are estimating 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 figuring out when it's a good idea to plant phlox is to check out the USDA zone info for La Crescent.

Planting Calendar for Phlox

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

Since phlox do well in moderate cold you can plant them a bit earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant phlox in La Crescent 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 phlox and expect a good harvest is probably August. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your phlox may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your phlox indoors.

Last Frost Date

In La Crescent the average date of last frost happens on May 15. It might get as low as -25°F during the coldest months of winter.

Always keep in mind that USDA zone info for La Crescent is an average and the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Since half of the time in La Crescent it frosts late in the year after May 15 be ready to protect your phlox if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for La Crescent

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 La Crescent

You may be interested in your other planting guides for La Crescent.