One of the first steps you take when you are estimating 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.

You can figure out when to plant red hot pokers in Birmingham by looking at the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Red Hot Pokers

Frost tolerance for red hot pokers:	Very tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	Up to 7 weeks before last frost.

Since red hot pokers are very cold tolerant you can plant them earlier in the year than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

The earliest that you can plant red hot pokers in Birmingham is February. However, you really should wait until March if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant red hot pokers and expect a good harvest is probably September. If you wait any later than that and your red hot pokers may not have a chance to fully mature. Starting your red hot pokers indoors is a great way to get them started a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

In Birmingham the average date of last frost happens on March 15. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of 10°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Birmingham is just an average the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Birmingham it frosts late in the year after March 15 so make sure that you are ready to protect your red hot pokers in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Birmingham

Here is the info for USDA Zone 8a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	March 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	November 15
Lowest Expected Low	10°F
Highest Expected Low	15°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 10°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 15°F.

Plants to Grow in Birmingham

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