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.

In Opelika you can figure out when it's a good idea to plant canna by referring to the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Canna

Frost tolerance for canna:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After the last frost when the weather gets warmer.

Canna do not do well in cold weather which tells us that it's necessary to wait until it warms up after the last frost when the weather gets warmer before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant canna in Opelika 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 canna and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your canna may not have a chance to grow to maturity. Starting your canna indoors is a great way to get them started a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is March 15 in Opelika. It might get as low as 10°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Opelika is an average the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Opelika last frost occurs after March 15 so make sure that you are ready to protect your canna if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Opelika

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 Opelika

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