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

It's possible to estimate when it's possible to plant red hot pokers by checking out the USDA zone info for Portage.

Planting Calendar for Red Hot Pokers

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

Red Hot Pokers do well in cold which tells us that you can plant them much earlier than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

The earliest that you can plant red hot pokers in Portage 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 red hot pokers and expect a good harvest is probably September. Any later than that and your red hot pokers may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your red hot pokers indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost when the weather gets warmer is on April 15 in Portage. You should expect an average low temperature of -20°F in the coldest months of winter.

Just be sure to remember that USDA zone info for Portage is an average and the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Portage you get a frost after April 15 so just be sure to be ready to cover your red hot pokers 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.