Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to determine your garden schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

The USDA zone info for Wilmington can be used to estimate when it's the best time to plant okra.

Planting Calendar for Okra

Frost tolerance for okra:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After all chance of frost has passed.

You really shouldn't plant okra until after the last frost has passed because they do not do well in cold weather.

The earliest that you can plant okra in Wilmington 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 okra and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your okra may not have a chance to grow to maturity. Starting your okra indoors is a great way to get them started a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average all chance of frost has passed is on April 15 in Wilmington. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of 0°F.

It's important to remember that USDA zone info for Wilmington is an average and the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Wilmington last frost occurs after April 15 be ready to protect your okra if you have one of those late frosts.

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.