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.

It's a good idea to figure out when it's a good idea to plant dipladenia by referring to the USDA zone info for Rifle.

Planting Calendar for Dipladenia

Frost tolerance for dipladenia:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After the last frost has passed.

Dipladenia are not cold tolerant which tells us that it is important to wait until it warms up after the last frost has passed before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant dipladenia in Rifle 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 dipladenia and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your dipladenia may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your dipladenia indoors.

Last Frost Date

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

Since the USDA zone info for Rifle may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost is different every year. Since half of the time in Rifle it frosts late in the year after April 15 be ready to cover your dipladenia if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Rifle

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 Rifle

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