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

In La Junta you can estimate when you can plant creeping phlox by referring to the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Creeping Phlox

Frost tolerance for creeping phlox:	Very tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	Up to 7 weeks before last frost.

Creeping Phlox tend to make it in quite a bit of cold which tells us that you can plant them much earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant creeping phlox in La Junta 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 creeping phlox and expect a good harvest is probably September. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your creeping phlox may not have a chance to really do well. Starting your creeping phlox indoors is a great way to get them started a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in La Junta. You can expect an average low temperature of -15°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for La Junta is not always accurate the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Half of the time in La Junta it frosts late in the year after April 15 so make sure that you are ready to cover your creeping phlox in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for La Junta

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 La Junta

You may be interested in your other planting guides for La Junta.