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 way of figuring out when you can plant cardinal flower is to look at the USDA zone info for Saratoga.

Planting Calendar for Cardinal Flower

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

It's probably not a good idea to plant cardinal flower until after the last frost because they require warm weather.

The earliest that you can plant cardinal flower in Saratoga 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 really do well. Starting your cardinal flower indoors is a great way to get them started a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

In Saratoga the average date of last frost happens on February 15. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of 25°F.

Just be sure to remember that the actual date of last frost may not be accurate from year to year because it is based on the USDA zone info for Saratoga and it changes from year to year. Half of the time in Saratoga there is a last frost after February 15 so make sure that you are prepared to cover your cardinal flower in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Saratoga

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 Saratoga

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