One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us figure out your gardening schedule is the USDA zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

It's a good idea to figure out when it's the best time to plant zinnia by looking at the USDA zone info for Athens.

Planting Calendar for Zinnia

Frost tolerance for zinnia:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After the last frost has passed.

It's probably a bad idea to plant zinnia until after the last frost has passed because they require warm weather.

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

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost is on March 15 in Athens. 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 not always accurate and the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Athens there is a last frost after March 15 so make sure that you are prepared to cover your zinnia if you have a surprise late frost.

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.