When to Plant Fuchsia in Zone 5a

One of the first steps you take when you are figuring out 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.

The USDA zone info for Zone 5a should be reffered to in order to determine when to plant fuchsia.


Planting Calendar for Fuchsia

Frost tolerance for fuchsia: Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant: After the last frost.

Fuchsia are not cold tolerant which tells us that you need to wait until it warms up after the last frost has passed before you can plant them.

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

The earliest that you can plant fuchsia in Zone 5a 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 fuchsia and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your fuchsia may not have a chance to fully mature. If you are starting your fuchsia indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

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

Since the USDA zone info for Zone 5a is not always accurate the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Zone 5a there is a last frost after April 15 be ready to protect your fuchsia in the event of 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.