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.

One way of figuring out when it's a good idea to plant canna is to consult the USDA zone info for Cortez.

Planting Calendar for Canna

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

It's a bad idea to plant canna until after the last frost when the weather gets warmer because they do not do well in cold weather.

The earliest that you can plant canna in Cortez 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 canna and expect a good harvest is probably August. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your canna may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your canna indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average all chance of frost has passed is on April 15 in Cortez. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of -10°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Cortez is not always accurate the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Cortez there is a last frost after April 15 so make sure that you are prepared to cover your canna if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Cortez

Here is the info for USDA Zone 6a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-10°F
Highest Expected Low	-5°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -10°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -5°F.

Plants to Grow in Cortez

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