One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us estimate your gardening schedule is the 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 Missoula should be reviewed to determine when you can plant flax.

Planting Calendar for Flax

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

Flax tend to make it in a little bit of cold which means that 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 flax in Missoula is February. However, you really should wait until March if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant flax and expect a good harvest is probably September. If you wait any later than that and your flax may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your flax indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average all chance of frost has passed is on April 15 in Missoula. You should expect an average low temperature of -15°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Missoula is not always accurate the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in Missoula you get a frost after April 15 be ready to cover your flax in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Missoula

Here is the info for USDA Zone 5b.

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

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -15°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -10°F.

Plants to Grow in Missoula

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