One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us determine your gardening schedule is the USDA zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

You will be able to estimate when you can plant hosta by looking at the USDA zone info for Ripon.

Planting Calendar for Hosta

Frost tolerance for hosta:	Tolerant of some frost.
When to plant:	Up to 5 weeks before last frost.

Since hosta are one of those plants that can tolerate a little bit of cold weather you can plant them a little bit earlier in the year than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

The earliest that you can plant hosta in Ripon 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 hosta and expect a good harvest is probably September. If you wait any later than that and your hosta may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your hosta indoors.

Last Frost Date

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

Remember that the actual date of last frost is just an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Ripon and it can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Ripon it frosts late in the year after April 15 be ready to cover your hosta in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Ripon

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 Ripon

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