When to Plant Flax in Zone 3a

The USDA Zone info is a great tool for gardeners to help us determine your gardening schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

A common way of estimating when it's a good idea to plant flax is to consult the USDA zone info for Zone 3a.


Planting Calendar for Flax

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

Flax do well in mild cold which tells us that you can plant them a little earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

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

The earliest that you can plant flax in Zone 3a 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 flax and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your flax may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your flax indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average all chance of frost has passed is on May 15 in Zone 3a. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of -40°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Zone 3a may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost is different every year. Since half of the time in Zone 3a there is a last frost after May 15 be ready to cover your flax if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Zone 3a

Here is the info for USDA Zone 3a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)May 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)September 15
Lowest Expected Low-40°F
Highest Expected Low-35°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -40°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -35°F.

Plants to Grow in Zone 3a

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Zone 3a.