When to Plant Chrysanthemums in La Crosse, WI

Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to determine your garden schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

The earliest that you can plant chrysanthemums in La Crosse can be figured out by checking out the USDA zone info.


Planting Calendar for Chrysanthemums

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

Chrysanthemums are barely cold tolerant which tells us that you can start planting them slightly earlier than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

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

The earliest that you can plant chrysanthemums in La Crosse 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 chrysanthemums and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your chrysanthemums may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your chrysanthemums 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 can expect an average low temperature of -25°F.

Since the USDA zone info for La Crosse is just an average the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in La Crosse it frosts late in the year after May 15 so make sure that you are ready to protect your chrysanthemums in the event of one of those late frosts.

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.