When to Plant Cardinal Flower in Stillwater, MN

One of the first steps you take when you are estimating 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.

It's possible to figure out when it's possible to plant cardinal flower by reviewing the USDA zone info for Stillwater.


Planting Calendar for Cardinal Flower

Frost tolerance for cardinal flower: Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant: After the last frost has passed.

It's probably a bad idea to plant cardinal flower until after the last frost when the weather gets warmer because they require warm weather.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Legend 
A good time to plant cardinal flower
Possibly ok, but a risky time to plant cardinal flower
Probably not a good time to plant cardinal flower

The earliest that you can plant cardinal flower in Stillwater 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 cardinal flower and expect a good harvest is probably August. Any later than that and your cardinal flower may not have a chance to really do well. Starting your cardinal flower 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 Stillwater. You should expect an average low temperature of -25°F in the coldest months of winter.

It's important to remember that the actual date of last frost is an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Stillwater and it will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in Stillwater you get surprised by a frost after May 15 be ready to protect your cardinal flower if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Stillwater

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 Stillwater

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