One of the first steps you take when you are getting a good idea 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 West Monroe you can estimate when it's a good idea to plant sunflowers by checking out the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Sunflowers

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

Sunflowers are not cold tolerant which means that you really should wait until it warms up after the last frost when the weather gets warmer before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant sunflowers in West Monroe 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 sunflowers and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your sunflowers may not have a chance to really do well. If you are starting your sunflowers indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is March 15 in West Monroe. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of 15°F.

Remember that the actual date of last frost is not always accurate because it is based on the USDA zone info for West Monroe and it changes from year to year. Half of the time in West Monroe it frosts late in the year after March 15 so make sure that you are prepared to protect your sunflowers in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for West Monroe

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 West Monroe

You may be interested in your other planting guides for West Monroe.