One of the first steps you take when you are figuring out 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.

A common way of estimating when to plant cardinal flower is to consult the USDA zone info for Livingston.

Planting Calendar for Cardinal Flower

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

Since cardinal flower do not do well in cold weather it's important to wait until after all chance of frost has passed before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant cardinal flower in Livingston is March. However, you really should wait until April if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant cardinal flower and expect a good harvest is probably September. If you wait any later than that and your cardinal flower may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your cardinal flower indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average all chance of frost has passed is on February 15 in Livingston. You can expect an average low temperature of 25°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Livingston is just an average the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in Livingston last frost occurs after February 15 be ready to cover your cardinal flower if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Livingston

Here is the info for USDA Zone 9b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	February 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	December 15
Lowest Expected Low	25°F
Highest Expected Low	30°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 25°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 30°F.

Plants to Grow in Livingston

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