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.

A way of making a decision about when it's a good idea to plant common hollyhock is to check out the USDA zone info for Anchorage.

Planting Calendar for Common hollyhock

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

Since common hollyhock are one of those plants that can tolerate a little bit of cold weather you can plant them a bit earlier in the year than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

The earliest that you can plant common hollyhock in Anchorage 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 common hollyhock and expect a good harvest is probably August. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your common hollyhock may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your common hollyhock indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost has passed is on May 15 in Anchorage. You can expect an average low temperature of -25°F in the coldest months of winter.

Remember that USDA zone info for Anchorage is an average and the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Anchorage you get a frost after May 15 so make sure that you are ready to cover your common hollyhock if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Anchorage

Here is the info for USDA Zone 4b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	May 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	September 15
Lowest Expected Low	-25°F
Highest Expected Low	-20°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -25°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -20°F.

Plants to Grow in Anchorage

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