One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us estimate your gardening schedule is the USDA zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

In Fort Smith you can figure out when it's a good idea to plant zinnia by using the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Zinnia

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

It's a bad idea to plant zinnia until after the last frost when the weather gets warmer because they are not cold tolerant.

The earliest that you can plant zinnia in Fort Smith 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. Any later than that and your zinnia may not have a chance to grow to maturity. If you are starting your zinnia indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Fort Smith. You should expect an average low temperature of 5°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Fort Smith may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Fort Smith last frost occurs after April 15 so make sure that you are ready to protect your zinnia in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Fort Smith

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 Fort Smith

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Fort Smith.