One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us figure out 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.

A common way of determining when to plant peonies is to examine the USDA zone info for Waupaca.

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.

You can plant peonies just a tiny bit earlier in the year because they are barely cold tolerant.

The earliest that you can plant peonies in Waupaca 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 peonies and expect a good harvest is probably August. Any later than that and your peonies may not have a chance to really do well. Starting your peonies indoors is a great way to get them started a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

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

Since the USDA zone info for Waupaca is just an average the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Waupaca last frost occurs after April 15 be ready to protect your peonies in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Waupaca

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 Waupaca

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