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.

The USDA zone info for Shawano can be reffered to in order to determine when it's the best time to plant hollyhocks.

Planting Calendar for Hollyhocks

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

Since hollyhocks are moderately cold tolerant you can plant them a bit earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant hollyhocks in Shawano is March. However, you really should wait until April if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant hollyhocks and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your hollyhocks may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your hollyhocks indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is May 15 in Shawano. You can expect an average low temperature of -25°F in the coldest months of winter.

Remember that the actual date of last frost is an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Shawano and it will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Shawano there is a last frost after May 15 so make sure that you are prepared to cover your hollyhocks if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Shawano

Here is the info for USDA Zone 4b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	May 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	September 15
Lowest Expected Low	-25°F
Highest Expected Low	-20°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -25°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -20°F.

Plants to Grow in Shawano

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