One of the first steps you take when you are determining 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.

A common way of estimating when it's the best time to plant larkspur is to examine the USDA zone info for Elkhart.

Planting Calendar for Larkspur

Frost tolerance for larkspur:	Very tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	Up to 7 weeks before last frost.

Since larkspur do well in cold you can plant them a lot earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

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

The last month that you can plant larkspur and expect a good harvest is probably September. Any later than that and your larkspur may not have a chance to really do well. If you are starting your larkspur indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

In Elkhart the average date of last frost happens on April 15. It might get as low as -10°F during the coldest months of winter.

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

USDA Zone Info for Elkhart

Here is the info for USDA Zone 6a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-10°F
Highest Expected Low	-5°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -10°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -5°F.

Plants to Grow in Elkhart

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