One of the first steps you take when you are figuring out 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 USDA zone info for Davenport should be reffered to in order to figure out when you can plant cardinal flower.

Planting Calendar for Cardinal Flower

Frost tolerance for cardinal flower:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After all chance of frost has passed.

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

The earliest that you can plant cardinal flower in Davenport 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 cardinal flower and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your cardinal flower may not have a chance to fully mature. Starting your cardinal flower indoors is a great way to get them started a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost has passed is on April 15 in Davenport. It might get as low as -15°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Davenport may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost is different every year. Half of the time in Davenport it frosts late in the year after April 15 so make sure that you are ready to cover your cardinal flower in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Davenport

Here is the info for USDA Zone 5b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-15°F
Highest Expected Low	-10°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 -10°F.

Plants to Grow in Davenport

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