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.

It's possible to figure out when you can plant borage by reviewing the USDA zone info for Franklin.

Planting Calendar for Borage

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

Borage do well in moderate cold which tells us that you can plant them just a bit earlier in the year than other plants that might not handle the cold.

The earliest that you can plant borage in Franklin 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 borage and expect a good harvest is probably September. If you wait any later than that and your borage may not have a chance to grow to maturity. Starting your borage 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 April 15 in Franklin. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of -20°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Franklin is an average the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Franklin you get a frost after April 15 so just be sure to be ready to cover your borage if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Franklin

Here is the info for USDA Zone 5a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-20°F
Highest Expected Low	-15°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -20°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -15°F.

Plants to Grow in Franklin

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