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.

You will be able to figure out when it's the best time to plant helianthemum by checking out the USDA zone info for Chester.

Planting Calendar for Helianthemum

Frost tolerance for helianthemum:	Tolerant of some frost.
When to plant:	Up to 5 weeks before last frost.

Helianthemum do ok in some cold which tells us that you can plant them a little bit earlier in the year than more sensitive plants.

The earliest that you can plant helianthemum in Chester 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 helianthemum and expect a good harvest is probably September. If you wait any later than that and your helianthemum may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your helianthemum indoors.

Last Frost Date

In Chester the average date of last frost happens on April 15. You can expect an average low temperature of -5°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Chester is not always accurate the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Chester it frosts late in the year after April 15 be ready to protect your helianthemum if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Chester

Here is the info for USDA Zone 6b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-5°F
Highest Expected Low	0°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -5°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 0°F.

Plants to Grow in Chester

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Chester.