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

The USDA zone info for Gloucester should be reffered to in order to estimate when you can plant phlox.

Planting Calendar for Phlox

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

Since phlox are moderately cold tolerant you can plant them a little earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant phlox in Gloucester 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 phlox and expect a good harvest is probably September. If you wait any later than that and your phlox may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your phlox indoors.

Last Frost Date

In Gloucester 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.

Since the USDA zone info for Gloucester is an average the actual date of last frost is different every year. Half of the time in Gloucester you get surprised by a frost after April 15 so always be ready to protect your phlox in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Gloucester

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 Gloucester

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