One of the first steps you take when you are figuring out your gardening schedule is find your USDA Zone info. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

A common way of determining when you can plant cuphea is to refer to the USDA zone info for Brighton.

Planting Calendar for Cuphea

Frost tolerance for cuphea:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After all chance of frost has passed.

It's probably a bad idea to plant cuphea until after the last frost because they are not cold tolerant.

The earliest that you can plant cuphea in Brighton 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 cuphea and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your cuphea may not have a chance to grow to maturity. If you are starting your cuphea indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

In Brighton the average date of last frost happens on April 15. It might get as low as -15°F during the coldest months of winter.

Keep in mind that USDA zone info for Brighton is just an average and the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in Brighton you get surprised by a frost after April 15 be ready to cover your cuphea in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Brighton

Here is the info for USDA Zone 5b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-15°F
Highest Expected Low	-10°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -15°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -10°F.

Plants to Grow in Brighton

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