When to Plant Cuphea in Ocean City, MD

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.

By looking at the USDA zone info for Ocean City it's a good idea to figure out when to plant cuphea.


Planting Calendar for Cuphea

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

Cuphea do not do well in cold weather which means that it is important to wait until it warms up after the last frost when the weather gets warmer before you can plant them.

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

The earliest that you can plant cuphea in Ocean City 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 cuphea and expect a good harvest is probably August. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your cuphea may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your cuphea indoors.

Last Frost Date

In Ocean City 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.

Just be sure to remember that USDA zone info for Ocean City is just an average and the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Ocean City you get surprised by a frost after April 15 be ready to cover your cuphea if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Ocean City

Here is the info for USDA Zone 7b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)October 15
Lowest Expected Low5°F
Highest Expected Low10°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 10°F.

Plants to Grow in Ocean City

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Ocean City.