When to Plant Peonies in Zone 2b

Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to determine your garden schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

You can estimate when it's a good idea to plant peonies in Zone 2b by referring to the USDA zone info.


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.

Since peonies do ok in moderate cold you can plant them just a tiny bit earlier in the year than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Legend 
A good time to plant peonies
Possibly ok, but a risky time to plant peonies
Probably not a good time to plant peonies

The earliest that you can plant peonies in Zone 2b 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 peonies and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your peonies may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your peonies indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is May 15 in Zone 2b. You can expect an average low temperature of -45°F in the coldest months of winter.

Keep in mind that USDA zone info for Zone 2b is just an average and the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Zone 2b it frosts late in the year after May 15 so make sure that you are ready to protect your peonies in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Zone 2b

Here is the info for USDA Zone 2b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)May 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)August 15
Lowest Expected Low-45°F
Highest Expected Low-40°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -45°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -40°F.

Plants to Grow in Zone 2b

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Zone 2b.