One of the first steps you take when you are getting a good idea 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.

A way of estimating when it's possible to plant zinnia is to use the USDA zone info for Bay Minette.

Planting Calendar for Zinnia

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

You should not plant zinnia until after all chance of frost has passed because they do not do well in cold weather.

The earliest that you can plant zinnia in Bay Minette is April. However, you really should wait until May 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 little bit earlier by starting your zinnia indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is March 15 in Bay Minette. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of 15°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Bay Minette is an average the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Bay Minette it frosts late in the year after March 15 be ready to cover your zinnia if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Bay Minette

Here is the info for USDA Zone 8b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	March 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	November 15
Lowest Expected Low	15°F
Highest Expected Low	20°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 15°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 20°F.

Plants to Grow in Bay Minette

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Bay Minette.