When to Plant Petunias in Ketchikan, AK

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.

It's a good idea to figure out when to plant petunias by reviewing the USDA zone info for Ketchikan.


Planting Calendar for Petunias

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

You can plant petunias just a tiny bit earlier in the year because they are one of those plants that can tolerate a tiny bit of cold weather.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Legend 
A good time to plant petunias
Possibly ok, but a risky time to plant petunias
Probably not a good time to plant petunias

The earliest that you can plant petunias in Ketchikan 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 petunias and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your petunias may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your petunias indoors.

Last Frost Date

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

Remember that USDA zone info for Ketchikan may not be accurate from year to year and the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Ketchikan you get a frost after April 15 so always be ready to protect your petunias if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Ketchikan

Here is the info for USDA Zone 7b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)October 15
Lowest Expected Low5°F
Highest Expected Low10°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 10°F.

Plants to Grow in Ketchikan

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