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.

One way of estimating when it's the best time to plant peonies is to check out the USDA zone info for Rice Lake.

Planting Calendar for Peonies

Frost tolerance for peonies:	Tolerant of a very small amount of frost.
When to plant:	Up to 3 weeks before last frost.

Peonies can survive in mild cold which tells us that you can plant them just a tiny bit earlier in the year than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

The earliest that you can plant peonies in Rice Lake 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 peonies and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your peonies may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your peonies indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average all chance of frost has passed is on May 15 in Rice Lake. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of -30°F.

It's important to remember that USDA zone info for Rice Lake is an average and the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in Rice Lake it frosts late in the year after May 15 be ready to cover your peonies in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Rice Lake

Here is the info for USDA Zone 4a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	May 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	September 15
Lowest Expected Low	-30°F
Highest Expected Low	-25°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -30°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -25°F.

Plants to Grow in Rice Lake

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Rice Lake.