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 estimating when to plant fanflower is to examine the USDA zone info for Sterling.

Planting Calendar for Fanflower

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

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

The earliest that you can plant fanflower in Sterling 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 fanflower and expect a good harvest is probably August. Any later than that and your fanflower may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your fanflower indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Sterling. You can expect an average low temperature of -20°F in the coldest months of winter.

It's important to remember that the actual date of last frost may not be accurate from year to year because it is based on the USDA zone info for Sterling and it will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Sterling it frosts late in the year after April 15 so always be ready to cover your fanflower if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Sterling

Here is the info for USDA Zone 5a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-20°F
Highest Expected Low	-15°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -20°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -15°F.

Plants to Grow in Sterling

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