One of the first steps you take when you are determining 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.

The USDA zone info for Thurmont should be looked at to determine when it's the best time to plant four o' clock.

Planting Calendar for Four O' Clock

Frost tolerance for four o' clock:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After the last frost when the weather gets warmer.

Since four o' clock are not cold tolerant you need to wait until after the last frost has passed before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant four o' clock in Thurmont 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 four o' clock and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your four o' clock may not have a chance to grow to maturity. Starting your four o' clock indoors is a great way to get them started a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

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

Keep in mind that the actual date of last frost may not be accurate from year to year because it is based on the USDA zone info for Thurmont and it can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Thurmont you get a frost after April 15 so just be sure to be ready to cover your four o' clock in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Thurmont

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 Thurmont

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