One of the first steps you take when you are estimating 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.

One way of determining when it's a good idea to plant phlox is to look at the USDA zone info for Cortez.

Planting Calendar for Phlox

Frost tolerance for phlox:	Tolerant of some frost.
When to plant:	Up to 5 weeks before last frost.

You can plant phlox a bit earlier in the year because they are moderately cold tolerant.

The earliest that you can plant phlox in Cortez 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 phlox and expect a good harvest is probably September. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your phlox may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your phlox indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost is on April 15 in Cortez. It might get as low as -10°F during the coldest months of winter.

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. Since half of the time in Cortez you get surprised by a frost after April 15 be ready to cover your phlox if you have a 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.