The USDA Zone info is a great tool for gardeners to help us estimate your gardening schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

One way of getting a good idea when it's possible to plant cuphea is to look at the USDA zone info for Richmond.

Planting Calendar for Cuphea

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

Cuphea are not cold tolerant which means that you have to wait until it warms up after all chance of frost has passed before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant cuphea in Richmond 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 cuphea and expect a good harvest is probably September. Any later than that and your cuphea may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your cuphea indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost when the weather gets warmer is on January 31 in Richmond. You should expect an average low temperature of 30°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Richmond is just an average the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Richmond last frost occurs after January 31 be ready to protect your cuphea if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Richmond

Here is the info for USDA Zone 10a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	January 31
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	December 15
Lowest Expected Low	30°F
Highest Expected Low	35°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 30°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 35°F.

Plants to Grow in Richmond

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