When to Plant Primroses in Zone 5a

Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to estimate your garden schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

The first opportunity to plant primroses in Zone 5a should be determined by using the USDA zone info.


Planting Calendar for Primroses

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

You can plant primroses quite a bit earlier in the year because they are one of those plants that can tolerate quite a bit of cold weather.

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

The earliest that you can plant primroses 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 primroses and expect a good harvest is probably September. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your primroses may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your primroses indoors.

Last Frost Date

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

Since the USDA zone info for Zone 5a may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in Zone 5a it frosts late in the year after April 15 be ready to cover your primroses 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.