Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to determine your garden schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

One way of getting a good idea when it's a good idea to plant gladiolus is to use the USDA zone info for Sparta.

Planting Calendar for Gladiolus

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

You can plant gladiolus a bit earlier in the year because they do ok in moderate cold.

The earliest that you can plant gladiolus in Sparta 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 gladiolus and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your gladiolus may not have a chance to really do well. If you are starting your gladiolus indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Sparta. You should expect an average low temperature of -5°F in the coldest months of winter.

Just be sure to remember that USDA zone info for Sparta is just an average and the actual date of last frost is different every year. Half of the time in Sparta you get surprised by a frost after April 15 so make sure that you are ready to cover your gladiolus if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Sparta

Here is the info for USDA Zone 6b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-5°F
Highest Expected Low	0°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -5°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 0°F.

Plants to Grow in Sparta

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