Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to estimate your garden schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

In Rochester you can figure out when it's possible to plant hosta by referring to the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Hosta

Frost tolerance for hosta:	Tolerant of some frost.
When to plant:	Up to 5 weeks before last frost.

Since hosta are moderately cold tolerant you can plant them a little bit earlier in the year than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

The earliest that you can plant hosta 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 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. Starting your hosta indoors is a great way to get them started a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost has passed is on May 15 in Rochester. You should expect an average low temperature of -25°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Rochester is an average the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in Rochester you get surprised by a frost after May 15 be ready to protect your hosta in the event of a 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.