The USDA Zone info is a great tool for gardeners to help us estimate your gardening schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

A common way of making a decision about when it's the best time to plant zinnia is to refer to the USDA zone info for Clear Lake.

Planting Calendar for Zinnia

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

Since zinnia do not do well in cold weather you need to wait until after the last frost has passed before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant zinnia in Clear Lake 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. If you wait any later than that and your zinnia may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your zinnia indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost is on April 15 in Clear Lake. You can expect an average low temperature of -20°F in the coldest months of winter.

Just be sure to remember that the actual date of last frost is not always accurate because it is based on the USDA zone info for Clear Lake and it is different every year. Since half of the time in Clear Lake you get surprised by a frost after April 15 be ready to cover your zinnia if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Clear Lake

Here is the info for USDA Zone 5a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-20°F
Highest Expected Low	-15°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -20°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -15°F.

Plants to Grow in Clear Lake

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Clear Lake.