One of the first steps you take when you are determining 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 Minneapolis can be looked at to figure out when it's a good idea to plant skullcap.

Planting Calendar for Skullcap

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

It's probably not a good idea to plant skullcap until after all chance of frost has passed because they are not cold tolerant.

The earliest that you can plant skullcap in Minneapolis 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 skullcap and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your skullcap may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your skullcap indoors.

Last Frost Date

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

Since the USDA zone info for Minneapolis may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Minneapolis you get a frost after May 15 so always be ready to cover your skullcap in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Minneapolis

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 Minneapolis

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