One of the first steps you take when you are estimating your gardening schedule is find your USDA Zone info. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

The USDA zone info for Dunkirk should be read to determine when you can plant strawflowers.

Planting Calendar for Strawflowers

Frost tolerance for strawflowers:	Tolerant of a very small amount of frost.
When to plant:	Up to 3 weeks before last frost.

You can plant strawflowers a bit earlier in the year because they are barely cold tolerant.

The earliest that you can plant strawflowers in Dunkirk is March. However, you really should wait until April if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant strawflowers and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your strawflowers may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your strawflowers indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost is on April 15 in Dunkirk. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of -5°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Dunkirk is just an average the actual date of last frost is different every year. Half of the time in Dunkirk you get a frost after April 15 so make sure that you are prepared to protect your strawflowers in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Dunkirk

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 Dunkirk

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