Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to estimate your garden schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

The earliest that you can plant cardinal flower in Emporia should be estimated by reviewing the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Cardinal Flower

Frost tolerance for cardinal flower:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After all chance of frost has passed.

You should not plant cardinal flower until after the last frost because they require warm weather.

The earliest that you can plant cardinal flower in Emporia 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 cardinal flower and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your cardinal flower may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your cardinal flower indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost is on April 15 in Emporia. It might get as low as -10°F during the coldest months of winter.

Keep in mind that USDA zone info for Emporia is an average and the actual date of last frost is different every year. Half of the time in Emporia last frost occurs after April 15 so make sure that you are ready to protect your cardinal flower if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Emporia

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 Emporia

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