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 Emporia you can determine when you can plant hardy hibiscus by referring to the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Hardy Hibiscus

Frost tolerance for hardy hibiscus:	Very tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	Up to 7 weeks before last frost.

Since hardy hibiscus are very cold tolerant you can plant them much earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant hardy hibiscus in Emporia 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 hardy hibiscus and expect a good harvest is probably September. If you wait any later than that and your hardy hibiscus may not have a chance to really do well. Starting your hardy hibiscus indoors is a great way to get them started a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

In Emporia the average date of last frost happens on April 15. 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 can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Emporia it frosts late in the year after April 15 be ready to protect your hardy hibiscus if you have a surprise late frost.

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.