One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us figure out your gardening schedule is the USDA zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

By reviewing the USDA zone info for Dodge City it's a good idea to determine when it's a good idea to plant cuphea.

Planting Calendar for Cuphea

Frost tolerance for cuphea:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After the last frost has passed.

It's probably not a good idea to plant cuphea until after the last frost when the weather gets warmer because they require warm weather.

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

Last Frost Date

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

Since the USDA zone info for Dodge City is an average the actual date of last frost is different every year. Since half of the time in Dodge City last frost occurs after April 15 be ready to protect your cuphea in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Dodge City

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 Dodge City

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Dodge City.