One of the first steps you take when you are figuring out 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 New Bedford you can determine when it's the best time to plant peonies by checking out the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Peonies

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

Since peonies are one of those plants that can tolerate a tiny bit of cold weather you can plant them just a tiny bit earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant peonies in New Bedford 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 peonies and expect a good harvest is probably August. Any later than that and your peonies may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your peonies indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost has passed is on April 15 in New Bedford. It might get as low as -5°F during the coldest months of winter.

Just be sure to remember that USDA zone info for New Bedford is an average and the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in New Bedford there is a last frost after April 15 be ready to protect your peonies if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for New Bedford

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 New Bedford

You may be interested in your other planting guides for New Bedford.