One of the first steps you take when you are determining 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.

One way of figuring out when it's a good idea to plant primroses is to look at the USDA zone info for Madison.

Planting Calendar for Primroses

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

Primroses are very cold tolerant which tells us that you can get them planted much earlier than more sensitive plants.

The earliest that you can plant primroses in Madison is February. However, you really should wait until March if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant primroses and expect a good harvest is probably September. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your primroses may not have a chance to fully mature. If you are starting your primroses indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Madison. You should expect an average low temperature of -20°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Madison may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Madison there is a last frost after April 15 be ready to cover your primroses in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Madison

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 Madison

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