When to plant Rhubarb
Computed from land-grant Extension planting-window rules (cited below), localized to real ZIP-level median frost dates, not a single national guess. These are national-generic rules by hardiness class; individual state Extension offices layer their own regional adjustment on top (earlier in the Deep South, later in the Upper Midwest). Enter your ZIP for your own dates, or read the four representative locations below.
Planting windows and crop timing here are computed from USDA/NOAA climate data and the university extension sources cited below, not a site visit or soil test. Treat this as a starting point: local conditions vary, and a local nursery or extension office can advise on your exact site. See our full Disclaimer.
Representative timing, by climate band
When to plant Rhubarb in four US climates
Each column is the most nursery-dense location in our directory within that USDA zone band, computed from that location's own real median frost dates, not a made-up example.
| Stage |
Zones 1-5 (cold winters)
Fort Plain, NY |
Zones 6-7 (temperate)
McMinnville, TN |
Zones 8-9 (warm)
Apopka, FL |
Zones 10-13 (hot, frost rare or absent)
Loxahatchee, FL |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Start seed indoors | Not available | Not available | Not available | – |
| Direct-sow outside | Not available | Not available | Not available | – |
| Transplant outside | Mar 25–Apr 8 | Feb 24–Mar 10 | Jan 13–Jan 27 | – |
| Fall planting | Not available | Not available | Not available | – |
| Expected harvest | Not available | Not available | Not available | – |
Zones 10-13 (hot, frost rare or absent) (Loxahatchee, FL): Frost is rare here (about 359 frost-free days a year); most years see little or no hard freeze. This is a hardy crop. In climates like this one, hardy and semi-hardy crops typically go in during the cooler months (fall through late winter), not on a frost-relative schedule.
Rhubarb goes into the ground four to six weeks before your last frost, Purdue Extension's hardy-crop window (HO-186-W) applied to crown planting, since rhubarb is propagated from crowns, not started from seed. Neither Colorado State nor Virginia Cooperative Extension covers rhubarb in the material held for this table, so Purdue and Missouri Extension are the only two sources here.
This page shows no days-to-maturity figure for rhubarb, the same honest gap as asparagus and for the same reason: Missouri Extension (G6201) states it takes two years from crown planting to the first real harvest, and forcing that establishment period into an annual days-to-maturity field would misstate what rhubarb actually is.
No minimum soil temperature is held for rhubarb either. Because rhubarb is hardy and planted this early on purpose, a cold-winter climate is well within its comfort zone; a mild-winter climate can still grow rhubarb, though a winter cold enough to give the crown a real dormant period is what the crop is built for.
Nurseries sell rhubarb as dormant crowns, not as seed, and a crown one or two years old is standard planting stock. Buying a crown rather than starting from seed is also the more reliable way to reach that two-year first harvest without adding time to it.
Frost hardiness
Hardy. Tolerates hard frost. Can go in the ground before the last frost date.
Sourcing notes
Perennial, crown-propagated; not covered by CSU or VCE in the material fetched. PURDUE's hardy window applied to crown-planting timing. MOEXT states 2 years to first harvest - left days_to_maturity blank for the same reason as asparagus (misleading to encode a perennial establishment period as an annual DTM range). No min soil temp found.
Related crops
Growing zones for this crop
Nurseries near these locations
Sources
- University of Missouri Extension, Vegetable Planting Calendar (G6201) (accessed 2026-08-04)
- Purdue Extension (Dept. of Horticulture and Landscape Architecture), Indiana Vegetable Planting Calendar (HO-186-W) (accessed 2026-08-04)