When to Plant Digitalis 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 most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

In Zone 5a you can determine when you can plant digitalis by checking out the USDA zone info.


Planting Calendar for Digitalis

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

Digitalis are moderately cold tolerant which tells us that you can plant them earlier than other plants that might not handle the cold.

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

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

Last Frost Date

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

Remember that the actual date of last frost is not always accurate because it is based on the USDA zone info for Zone 5a and it is different every year. Half of the time in Zone 5a you get surprised by a frost after April 15 so make sure that you are prepared to cover your digitalis if you have one of those late frosts.

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.