One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us determine 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.

By checking out the USDA zone info for Zachary you should be able to estimate when to plant peonies.

Planting Calendar for Peonies

Frost tolerance for peonies:	Tolerant of a very small amount of frost.
When to plant:	Up to 3 weeks before last frost.

Since peonies do ok in moderate cold you can plant them a bit earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant peonies in Zachary 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 peonies and expect a good harvest is probably August. Any later than that and your peonies may not have a chance to really do well. If you are starting your peonies indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average all chance of frost has passed is on March 15 in Zachary. You should expect an average low temperature of 15°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Zachary is just an average the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Zachary there is a last frost after March 15 so always be ready to protect your peonies in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Zachary

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 Zachary

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