One of the first steps you take when you are making a decision about 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.

In Eau Claire you can determine when to plant lobelia by referring to the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Lobelia

Frost tolerance for lobelia:	Very tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	Up to 7 weeks before last frost.

Since lobelia are one of those plants that can tolerate quite a bit of cold weather you can plant them a lot earlier in the year than other plants that might not handle the cold.

The earliest that you can plant lobelia in Eau Claire 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 lobelia and expect a good harvest is probably August. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your lobelia may not have a chance to grow to maturity. Starting your lobelia 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 May 15 in Eau Claire. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of -25°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Eau Claire is an average the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Eau Claire it frosts late in the year after May 15 so be sure to be ready to protect your lobelia if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Eau Claire

Here is the info for USDA Zone 4b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	May 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	September 15
Lowest Expected Low	-25°F
Highest Expected Low	-20°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -25°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -20°F.

Plants to Grow in Eau Claire

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Eau Claire.