One of the first steps you take when you are figuring out 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.

One way of getting a good idea when it's the best time to plant common hollyhock is to refer to the USDA zone info for New Orleans.

Planting Calendar for Common hollyhock

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

You can plant common hollyhock a little earlier in the year because they do well in moderate cold.

The earliest that you can plant common hollyhock in New Orleans is January. However, you really should wait until February if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant common hollyhock and expect a good harvest is probably October. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your common hollyhock may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your common hollyhock indoors.

Last Frost Date

In New Orleans the average date of last frost happens on February 15. You can expect an average low temperature of 25°F in the coldest months of winter.

Just be sure to remember that USDA zone info for New Orleans is just an average and the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in New Orleans last frost occurs after February 15 be ready to protect your common hollyhock if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for New Orleans

Here is the info for USDA Zone 9b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	February 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	December 15
Lowest Expected Low	25°F
Highest Expected Low	30°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 25°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 30°F.

Plants to Grow in New Orleans

You may be interested in your other planting guides for New Orleans.