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.

The USDA zone info for Mankato should be looked at to determine when to plant lavender cotton.

Planting Calendar for Lavender Cotton

Frost tolerance for lavender cotton:	Very tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	Up to 7 weeks before last frost.

Since lavender cotton do well in cold you can plant them quite a bit earlier in the year than other plants that might not handle the cold.

The earliest that you can plant lavender cotton in Mankato 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 lavender cotton and expect a good harvest is probably August. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your lavender cotton may not have a chance to grow to maturity. If you are starting your lavender cotton indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

In Mankato the average date of last frost happens on May 15. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of -25°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Mankato may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost is different every year. Half of the time in Mankato you get surprised by a frost after May 15 so always be ready to cover your lavender cotton in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Mankato

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 Mankato

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