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.

A common way of determining when it's a good idea to plant lobelia is to use the USDA zone info for La Crosse.

Planting Calendar for Lobelia

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

Lobelia are very cold tolerant which means that you can start planting them much earlier than other plants that might not handle the cold.

The earliest that you can plant lobelia 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 lobelia and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your lobelia may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your lobelia indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is May 15 in La Crosse. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of -25°F.

Keep in mind that the actual date of last frost is not always accurate because it is based on the USDA zone info for La Crosse and it is different every year. Since half of the time in La Crosse last frost occurs after May 15 be ready to protect your lobelia if you have a surprise 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.