One of the first steps you take when you are figuring out 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.

The USDA zone info for Portage should be used to figure out when it's a good idea to plant ageratum.

Planting Calendar for Ageratum

Frost tolerance for ageratum:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After all chance of frost has passed.

It's a bad idea to plant ageratum until after the last frost because they require warm weather.

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

Last Frost Date

In Portage the average date of last frost happens on April 15. It might get as low as -20°F during the coldest months of winter.

Remember that the actual date of last frost is not always accurate because it is based on the USDA zone info for Portage and it will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Portage it frosts late in the year after April 15 so make sure that you are prepared to cover your ageratum in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Portage

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 Portage

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