Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to figure out your garden schedule. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

You will be able to figure out when you can plant dracaena by looking at the USDA zone info for Rochester.

Planting Calendar for Dracaena

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

Dracaena tend to make it in pretty solid cold which tells us that you can plant them quite a bit earlier in the year than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

The earliest that you can plant dracaena in Rochester 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 dracaena and expect a good harvest is probably August. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your dracaena may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your dracaena indoors.

Last Frost Date

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

Since the USDA zone info for Rochester is an average the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Rochester it frosts late in the year after May 15 so make sure that you are ready to protect your dracaena if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Rochester

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 Rochester

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