When to Plant Flowering Maple in Rapid City, SD

The USDA Zone info is a great tool for gardeners to help us figure out your gardening schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

By looking at the USDA zone info for Rapid City you will be able to determine when you can plant flowering maple.


Planting Calendar for Flowering Maple

Frost tolerance for flowering maple: Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant: After the last frost.

Flowering Maple do not do well in cold weather which means that you need to wait until it warms up after all chance of frost has passed before you can plant them.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Legend 
A good time to plant flowering maple
Possibly ok, but a risky time to plant flowering maple
Probably not a good time to plant flowering maple

The earliest that you can plant flowering maple in Rapid City 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 flowering maple and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your flowering maple may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your flowering maple indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Rapid City. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of -20°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Rapid City may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in Rapid City it frosts late in the year after April 15 be ready to cover your flowering maple if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Rapid City

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 Rapid City

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Rapid City.