One of the first steps you take when you are making a decision about 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.

A way of determining when it's possible to plant mimulus is to examine the USDA zone info for Douglas.

Planting Calendar for Mimulus

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

You can not plant mimulus until after the last frost has passed because they require warm weather.

The earliest that you can plant mimulus in Douglas is May. However, you really should wait until June if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant mimulus and expect a good harvest is probably August. Any later than that and your mimulus may not have a chance to fully mature. If you are starting your mimulus indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost is on May 15 in Douglas. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of -25°F.

Keep in mind that the actual date of last frost may not be accurate from year to year because it is based on the USDA zone info for Douglas and it changes from year to year. Half of the time in Douglas it frosts late in the year after May 15 so be sure to be ready to cover your mimulus in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Douglas

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 Douglas

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