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 Owatonna should be read to estimate when to plant ruby grass.

Planting Calendar for Ruby Grass

Frost tolerance for ruby grass:	Tolerant of a very small amount of frost.
When to plant:	Up to 3 weeks before last frost.

Ruby Grass do ok in moderate cold which means that you can get them planted just a bit earlier than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant ruby grass in Owatonna is April. However, you really should wait until May if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant ruby grass and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your ruby grass may not have a chance to really do well. If you are starting your ruby grass indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost is on May 15 in Owatonna. In the coldest months of winter you should 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 can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Owatonna there is a last frost after May 15 be ready to cover your ruby grass in the event of a 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.