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.

In Winona you can determine when it's a good idea to plant mimulus by looking at the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Mimulus

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

Since mimulus do not do well in cold weather you must wait until after the last frost before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant mimulus in Winona 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 mimulus and expect a good harvest is probably August. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your mimulus may not have a chance to really do well. Starting your mimulus indoors is a great way to get them started a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost when the weather gets warmer is on April 15 in Winona. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of 5°F.

It's important to remember that USDA zone info for Winona is just an average and the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Winona you get a frost after April 15 so just be sure to be ready to protect your mimulus in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Winona

Here is the info for USDA Zone 7b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	5°F
Highest Expected Low	10°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 5°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 10°F.

Plants to Grow in Winona

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