One of the first steps you take when you are figuring out 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.

A common way of getting a good idea when you can plant cleome is to examine the USDA zone info for Derby.

Planting Calendar for Cleome

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

Cleome require warm weather which means that you need to wait until it warms up after the last frost when the weather gets warmer before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant cleome 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 cleome and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your cleome may not have a chance to fully mature. Starting your cleome indoors is a great way to get them started a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

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

It's important to remember that the actual date of last frost is just an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Derby and it can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Derby last frost occurs after April 15 be ready to protect your cleome 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.