One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us estimate your gardening schedule is the USDA zone info. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

A common way of making a decision about when you can plant flowering tobacco is to refer to the USDA zone info for Clay.

Planting Calendar for Flowering Tobacco

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

It's probably not a good idea to plant flowering tobacco until after the last frost has passed because they are not cold tolerant.

The earliest that you can plant flowering tobacco in Clay 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 flowering tobacco and expect a good harvest is probably August. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your flowering tobacco may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your flowering tobacco indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Clay. It might get as low as 5°F during the coldest months of winter.

Remember that the actual date of last frost is just an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Clay and it will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in Clay you get surprised by a frost after April 15 be ready to protect your flowering tobacco if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Clay

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 Low	5°F
Highest Expected Low	10°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 Clay

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