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 best time to plant sunflowers in Albany can be figured out by referring to the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Sunflowers

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

You can not plant sunflowers until after the last frost has passed because they are not cold tolerant.

The earliest that you can plant sunflowers in Albany 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. If you wait any later than that and your sunflowers may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your sunflowers indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost is on March 15 in Albany. It might get as low as 15°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Albany may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Albany you get surprised by a frost after March 15 so make sure that you are ready to protect your sunflowers in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Albany

Here is the info for USDA Zone 8b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	March 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	November 15
Lowest Expected Low	15°F
Highest Expected Low	20°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 20°F.

Plants to Grow in Albany

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