When to Plant Ornamental Grasses in Appleton, WI

One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us figure out 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.

In Appleton you can figure out when it's the best time to plant ornamental grasses by using the USDA zone info.


Planting Calendar for Ornamental Grasses

Frost tolerance for ornamental grasses: Tolerant of a very small amount of frost.
When to plant: Up to 3 weeks before last frost.

Since ornamental grasses are one of those plants that can tolerate a tiny bit of cold weather you can plant them slightly earlier in the year than more sensitive plants.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Legend 
A good time to plant ornamental grasses
Possibly ok, but a risky time to plant ornamental grasses
Probably not a good time to plant ornamental grasses

The earliest that you can plant ornamental grasses in Appleton is March. However, you really should wait until April if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant ornamental grasses and expect a good harvest is probably August. Any later than that and your ornamental grasses may not have a chance to really do well. Starting your ornamental grasses indoors is a great way to get them started a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost is on April 15 in Appleton. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of -20°F.

Keep in mind that USDA zone info for Appleton is not always accurate and the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Appleton you get a frost after April 15 be ready to protect your ornamental grasses in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Appleton

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 Appleton

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