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.

In Derby you can figure out when it's a good idea to plant calliopsis by reviewing the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Calliopsis

Frost tolerance for calliopsis:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After the last frost when the weather gets warmer.

It's probably a bad idea to plant calliopsis until after all chance of frost has passed because they are not cold tolerant.

The earliest that you can plant calliopsis in Derby 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 calliopsis and expect a good harvest is probably August. Any later than that and your calliopsis may not have a chance to fully mature. If you are starting your calliopsis indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost is on April 15 in Derby. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of -5°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Derby is not always accurate the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Derby there is a last frost after April 15 so just be sure to be ready to cover your calliopsis in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Derby

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 Derby

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