One of the first steps you take when you are making a decision about 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.

The first opportunity to plant zinnia in Fairbanks can be figured out by referring to the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Zinnia

Frost tolerance for zinnia:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After all chance of frost has passed.

Since zinnia require warm weather you have to wait until after the last frost when the weather gets warmer before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant zinnia in Fairbanks is May. However, you really should wait until June if you don't want to take any chances.

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

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost is on May 15 in Fairbanks. It might get as low as -50°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Fairbanks is an average the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Fairbanks there is a last frost after May 15 be ready to cover your zinnia if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Fairbanks

Here is the info for USDA Zone 2a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	May 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	August 15
Lowest Expected Low	-50°F
Highest Expected Low	-45°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -50°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -45°F.

Plants to Grow in Fairbanks

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