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.

You will be able to determine when it's a good idea to plant phlox by using the USDA zone info for El Dorado.

Planting Calendar for Phlox

Frost tolerance for phlox:	Tolerant of some frost.
When to plant:	Up to 5 weeks before last frost.

Phlox do well in moderate cold which tells us that you can start planting them earlier than more sensitive plants.

The earliest that you can plant phlox in El Dorado 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 phlox and expect a good harvest is probably September. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your phlox may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your phlox indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost has passed is on April 15 in El Dorado. 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 El Dorado is not always accurate and the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Half of the time in El Dorado last frost occurs after April 15 so make sure that you are ready to protect your phlox in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for El Dorado

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 El Dorado

You may be interested in your other planting guides for El Dorado.