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 Boston you can determine when it's the best time to plant cosmos by using the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Cosmos

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

Cosmos do ok in moderate cold which tells us that you can get them planted just a bit earlier than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

The earliest that you can plant cosmos in Boston 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 cosmos and expect a good harvest is probably August. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your cosmos may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your cosmos indoors.

Last Frost Date

In Boston the average date of last frost happens on April 15. You should expect an average low temperature of -5°F in the coldest months of winter.

Always keep in mind that the actual date of last frost is an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Boston and it changes from year to year. Half of the time in Boston last frost occurs after April 15 so just be sure to be ready to protect your cosmos in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Boston

Here is the info for USDA Zone 6b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-5°F
Highest Expected Low	0°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -5°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 0°F.

Plants to Grow in Boston

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