One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us figure out 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 figuring out when you can plant petunias is to examine the USDA zone info for Midlothian.

Planting Calendar for Petunias

Frost tolerance for petunias:	Tolerant of a very small amount of frost.
When to plant:	Up to 3 weeks before last frost.

Petunias are barely cold tolerant which tells us that you can start planting them slightly earlier than other plants that might not handle the cold.

The earliest that you can plant petunias in Midlothian is March. However, you really should wait until April if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant petunias and expect a good harvest is probably August. Any later than that and your petunias may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your petunias indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost when the weather gets warmer is on April 15 in Midlothian. You should expect an average low temperature of -15°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Midlothian is not always accurate the actual date of last frost is different every year. Since half of the time in Midlothian you get surprised by a frost after April 15 be ready to protect your petunias in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Midlothian

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 Midlothian

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