One of the first steps you take when you are determining your gardening schedule is find your USDA Zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

One way of making a decision about when to plant cleome is to check out the USDA zone info for West Bend.

Planting Calendar for Cleome

Frost tolerance for cleome:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After the last frost.

It's probably a bad idea to plant cleome until after the last frost because they do not do well in cold weather.

The earliest that you can plant cleome in West Bend 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 cleome and expect a good harvest is probably August. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your cleome may not have a chance to really do well. Starting your cleome indoors is a great way to get them started a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

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

Keep in mind that the actual date of last frost is an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for West Bend and it will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in West Bend there is a last frost after April 15 be ready to protect your cleome if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for West Bend

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 West Bend

You may be interested in your other planting guides for West Bend.