When to Plant Coleus in Cambridge, MA

One of the first steps you take when you are estimating 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.

You can estimate when you can plant coleus in Cambridge by looking at the USDA zone info.


Planting Calendar for Coleus

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

Coleus do not do well in cold weather which means that it's important to wait until it warms up after the last frost has passed before you can plant them.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Legend 
A good time to plant coleus
Possibly ok, but a risky time to plant coleus
Probably not a good time to plant coleus

The earliest that you can plant coleus in Cambridge 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 coleus and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your coleus may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your coleus indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Cambridge. It might get as low as -5°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Cambridge may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Cambridge last frost occurs after April 15 be ready to protect your coleus if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Cambridge

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 Low0°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 Cambridge

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