When to Plant Diascia in Zone 5a

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

The best time to plant diascia in Zone 5a should be determined by using the USDA zone info.


Planting Calendar for Diascia

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

Diascia do ok in a little bit of cold which means that you can plant them a bit earlier in the year than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

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

The earliest that you can plant diascia 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 diascia and expect a good harvest is probably September. If you wait any later than that and your diascia may not have a chance to grow to maturity. Starting your diascia indoors is a great way to get them started a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost when the weather gets warmer is on April 15 in Zone 5a. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of -20°F.

It's important to remember that USDA zone info for Zone 5a is an average and the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Zone 5a you get surprised by a frost after April 15 so make sure that you are ready to protect your diascia if you have a surprise 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.