One of the first steps you take when you are getting a good idea 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 determine when it's a good idea to plant lenten rose by referring to the USDA zone info for Cortland.

Planting Calendar for Lenten Rose

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

Lenten Rose are moderately cold tolerant which tells us that you can get them planted earlier than other frost tender plants.

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

Since the USDA zone info for Cortland is just an average the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Cortland there is a last frost after April 15 be ready to protect your lenten rose in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Cortland

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 Cortland

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