When to Plant Liatris in Zone 5a

One of the first steps you take when you are determining 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.

In Zone 5a you can determine when you can plant liatris by referring to the USDA zone info.


Planting Calendar for Liatris

Frost tolerance for liatris: Very tolerant of frost.
When to plant: Up to 7 weeks before last frost.

Since liatris are very cold tolerant you can plant them earlier in the year than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

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

The earliest that you can plant liatris 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 liatris and expect a good harvest is probably September. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your liatris may not have a chance to grow to maturity. If you are starting your liatris indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average all chance of frost has passed is on April 15 in Zone 5a. You should expect an average low temperature of -20°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Zone 5a is just an average the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Zone 5a there is a last frost after April 15 so just be sure to be ready to cover your liatris 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.