When to Plant Digitalis in Chelsea, MA

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 reviewing the USDA zone info for Chelsea it's a good idea to estimate when it's the best time to plant digitalis.


Planting Calendar for Digitalis

Frost tolerance for digitalis: Tolerant of some frost.
When to plant: Up to 5 weeks before last frost.

Since digitalis are moderately cold tolerant you can plant them a bit earlier in the year than other plants that might not handle the cold.

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

The earliest that you can plant digitalis in Chelsea is February. However, you really should wait until March if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant digitalis and expect a good harvest is probably September. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your digitalis may not have a chance to grow to maturity. If you are starting your digitalis indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

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

Since the USDA zone info for Chelsea is an average the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Chelsea it frosts late in the year after April 15 so make sure that you are ready to protect your digitalis if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Chelsea

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 Chelsea

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