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

In Calera you can figure out when to plant red hot pokers by referring to 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.

Red Hot Pokers do ok in a bit of cold which tells us that you can plant them a lot earlier in the year than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

The earliest that you can plant red hot pokers in Calera 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. 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

On average the last frost has passed is on March 15 in Calera. You can expect an average low temperature of 10°F in the coldest months of winter.

Always keep in mind that USDA zone info for Calera is just an average and the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Calera there is a last frost after March 15 be ready to cover your red hot pokers if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Calera

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 Calera

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