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

The best time to plant canna in Athens should be determined by reviewing the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Canna

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

Canna are not cold tolerant which means that you need to wait until it warms up after the last frost when the weather gets warmer before you can plant them.

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

Last Frost Date

In Athens the average date of last frost happens on March 15. It might get as low as 10°F during the coldest months of winter.

It's important to remember that USDA zone info for Athens is an average and the actual date of last frost is different every year. Since half of the time in Athens it frosts late in the year after March 15 be ready to protect your canna in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Athens

Here is the info for USDA Zone 8a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	March 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	November 15
Lowest Expected Low	10°F
Highest Expected Low	15°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 10°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 15°F.

Plants to Grow in Athens

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