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.

One way of estimating when you can plant cleome is to use the USDA zone info for Bunkie.

Planting Calendar for Cleome

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

Cleome do not do well in cold weather which tells us that you need to wait until it warms up after the last frost has passed before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant cleome in Bunkie is March. However, you really should wait until April if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant cleome and expect a good harvest is probably September. If you wait any later than that and your cleome may not have a chance to really do well. If you are starting your cleome indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

In Bunkie the average date of last frost happens on February 15. You can expect an average low temperature of 20°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Bunkie is not always accurate the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Bunkie there is a last frost after February 15 be ready to protect your cleome in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Bunkie

Here is the info for USDA Zone 9a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	February 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	December 15
Lowest Expected Low	20°F
Highest Expected Low	25°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 20°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 25°F.

Plants to Grow in Bunkie

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