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

A way of making a decision about when it's a good idea to plant polka dot plant is to use the USDA zone info for Zone 5b.

Planting Calendar for Polka Dot Plant

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

Since polka dot plant are not cold tolerant it is necessary to wait until after the last frost when the weather gets warmer before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant polka dot plant in Zone 5b 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 polka dot plant and expect a good harvest is probably August. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your polka dot plant may not have a chance to grow to maturity. If you are starting your polka dot plant 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 5b. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of -15°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Zone 5b is just an average the actual date of last frost is different every year. Half of the time in Zone 5b you get surprised by a frost after April 15 so be sure to be ready to protect your polka dot plant if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Zone 5b

Here is the info for USDA Zone 5b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-15°F
Highest Expected Low	-10°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -15°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -10°F.

Plants to Grow in Zone 5b

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Zone 5b.