One of the first steps you take when you are determining your gardening schedule is find your USDA Zone info. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

You can figure out when it's a good idea to plant cardinal flower in Ponchatoula by referring to the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Cardinal Flower

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

It's probably a bad idea to plant cardinal flower until after all chance of frost has passed because they do not do well in cold weather.

The earliest that you can plant cardinal flower in Ponchatoula 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. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your cardinal flower may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your cardinal flower indoors.

Last Frost Date

In Ponchatoula the average date of last frost happens on March 15. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of 15°F.

It's important to remember that the actual date of last frost is not always accurate because it is based on the USDA zone info for Ponchatoula and it can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Ponchatoula there is a last frost after March 15 be ready to protect your cardinal flower if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Ponchatoula

Here is the info for USDA Zone 8b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	March 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	November 15
Lowest Expected Low	15°F
Highest Expected Low	20°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 15°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 20°F.

Plants to Grow in Ponchatoula

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