When to Plant Strawflowers in Portland, ME

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

It's possible to estimate when it's the best time to plant strawflowers by reviewing the USDA zone info for Portland.


Planting Calendar for Strawflowers

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

You can plant strawflowers just a tiny bit earlier in the year because they do ok in moderate cold.

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

The earliest that you can plant strawflowers in Portland 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 strawflowers and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your strawflowers may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your strawflowers indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost has passed is on April 15 in Portland. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of -15°F.

It's important to remember that USDA zone info for Portland is an average and the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Portland you get surprised by a frost after April 15 so just be sure to be ready to cover your strawflowers in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Portland

Here is the info for USDA Zone 5b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)October 15
Lowest Expected Low-15°F
Highest Expected Low-10°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -15°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -10°F.

Plants to Grow in Portland

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