Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to determine your garden schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

A way of figuring out when to plant tithonia is to examine the USDA zone info for Chelsea.

Planting Calendar for Tithonia

Frost tolerance for tithonia:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After the last frost when the weather gets warmer.

Since tithonia are not cold tolerant you have to wait until after the last frost before you can plant them.

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

Last Frost Date

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

Since the USDA zone info for Chelsea is just an average the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Chelsea there is a last frost after April 15 so always be ready to protect your tithonia in the event of 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 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 Chelsea

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