When to Plant Daylily in Zone 5a

One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us determine your gardening schedule is the USDA zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

By checking out the USDA zone info for Zone 5a it's possible to figure out when you can plant daylily.


Planting Calendar for Daylily

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

Since daylily are moderately cold tolerant you can plant them a little earlier in the year than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

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

The earliest that you can plant daylily in Zone 5a is February. However, you really should wait until March if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant daylily and expect a good harvest is probably September. If you wait any later than that and your daylily may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your daylily indoors.

Last Frost Date

In Zone 5a the average date of last frost happens on April 15. You can expect an average low temperature of -20°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Zone 5a may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Zone 5a you get surprised by a frost after April 15 be ready to cover your daylily in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Zone 5a

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 Zone 5a

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Zone 5a.