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 can be looked at to figure out when it's a good idea to plant calliopsis.

Planting Calendar for Calliopsis

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

Since calliopsis are not cold tolerant you have to wait until after all chance of frost has passed before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant calliopsis 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 calliopsis and expect a good harvest is probably August. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your calliopsis may not have a chance to really do well. Starting your calliopsis indoors is a great way to get them started a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost has passed is on April 15 in Portage. It might get as low as -20°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Portage may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Portage last frost occurs after April 15 so make sure that you are prepared to protect your calliopsis if you have 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.