One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us determine your gardening schedule is the USDA zone info. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

One way of determining when to plant phlox is to use the USDA zone info for Forest Park.

Planting Calendar for Phlox

Frost tolerance for phlox:	Tolerant of some frost.
When to plant:	Up to 5 weeks before last frost.

Since phlox do well in moderate cold you can plant them a little bit earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant phlox in Forest Park 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 phlox and expect a good harvest is probably September. If you wait any later than that and your phlox may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your phlox indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average all chance of frost has passed is on March 15 in Forest Park. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of 10°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Forest Park is an average the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Forest Park you get surprised by a frost after March 15 so just be sure to be ready to protect your phlox if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Forest Park

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 Forest Park

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Forest Park.