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 Owatonna should be read to determine when it's possible to plant hosta.

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 just a bit earlier in the year because they do well in moderate cold.

The earliest that you can plant hosta in Owatonna 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. If you wait any later than that and your hosta may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your hosta indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost has passed is on May 15 in Owatonna. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of -25°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Owatonna is just an average the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Owatonna last frost occurs after May 15 so make sure that you are prepared to cover your hosta if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Owatonna

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 Owatonna

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