When to Plant Peonies in Zone 3a

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.

One way of determining when you can plant peonies is to use the USDA zone info for Zone 3a.

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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.

Peonies can survive in mild cold which means that you can plant them just a tiny bit earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

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 3a 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 peonies and expect a good harvest is probably August. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your peonies may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your peonies indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost is on May 15 in Zone 3a. It might get as low as -40°F during the coldest months of winter.

Just be sure to remember that USDA zone info for Zone 3a is just an average and the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Zone 3a you get surprised by a frost after May 15 so make sure that you are ready to protect your peonies in the event of 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.