One of the first steps you take when you are determining your gardening schedule is find your USDA Zone info. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

It's possible to estimate when it's the best time to plant borage by using the USDA zone info for La Crosse.

Planting Calendar for Borage

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

You can plant borage a little earlier in the year because they are one of those plants that can tolerate a little bit of cold weather.

The earliest that you can plant borage in La Crosse 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 borage and expect a good harvest is probably August. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your borage may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your borage indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost when the weather gets warmer is on May 15 in La Crosse. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of -25°F.

It's important to remember that USDA zone info for La Crosse is just an average and the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Since half of the time in La Crosse you get surprised by a frost after May 15 be ready to cover your borage in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for La Crosse

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 La Crosse

You may be interested in your other planting guides for La Crosse.