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

The USDA zone info for New London should be reffered to in order to figure out when it's a good idea to plant sunflowers.

Planting Calendar for Sunflowers

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

Since sunflowers do not do well in cold weather it is necessary to wait until after the last frost has passed before you can plant them.

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

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost is on April 15 in New London. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of -5°F.

It's important to remember that the actual date of last frost is an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for New London and it can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in New London it frosts late in the year after April 15 so be sure to be ready to protect your sunflowers if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for New London

Here is the info for USDA Zone 6b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-5°F
Highest Expected Low	0°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -5°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 0°F.

Plants to Grow in New London

You may be interested in your other planting guides for New London.