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.

You will be able to determine when it's possible to plant liatris by checking out the USDA zone info for Wilmington.

Planting Calendar for Liatris

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

Since liatris are one of those plants that can tolerate quite a bit of cold weather you can plant them earlier in the year than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

The earliest that you can plant liatris in Wilmington 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 liatris and expect a good harvest is probably September. If you wait any later than that and your liatris may not have a chance to fully mature. If you are starting your liatris indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

In Wilmington the average date of last frost happens on April 15. You should expect an average low temperature of 0°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Wilmington may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Wilmington you get a frost after April 15 so make sure that you are ready to cover your liatris in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Wilmington

Here is the info for USDA Zone 7a.

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

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

Plants to Grow in Wilmington

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