One of the first steps you take when you are determining your gardening schedule is find your 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.

The USDA zone info for Knoxville can be reffered to in order to determine when you can plant cuphea.

Planting Calendar for Cuphea

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

Cuphea require warm weather which means that you really should wait until it warms up after the last frost before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant cuphea in Knoxville 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 cuphea and expect a good harvest is probably August. Any later than that and your cuphea may not have a chance to grow to maturity. Starting your cuphea indoors is a great way to get them started a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost has passed is on April 15 in Knoxville. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of -15°F.

Always keep in mind that USDA zone info for Knoxville is not always accurate and the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Knoxville you get surprised by a frost after April 15 so make sure that you are prepared to protect your cuphea if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Knoxville

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 Knoxville

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