One of the first steps you take when you are making a decision about your gardening schedule is find your USDA Zone info. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

In Bay City you can figure out when it's the best time to plant red hot pokers by using the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Red Hot Pokers

Frost tolerance for red hot pokers:	Very tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	Up to 7 weeks before last frost.

Since red hot pokers are very cold tolerant you can plant them quite a bit earlier in the year than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

The earliest that you can plant red hot pokers in Bay City 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 red hot pokers and expect a good harvest is probably September. Any later than that and your red hot pokers may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your red hot pokers indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average all chance of frost has passed is on April 15 in Bay City. It might get as low as -10°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Bay City is just an average the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Bay City you get a frost after April 15 so make sure that you are ready to cover your red hot pokers if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Bay City

Here is the info for USDA Zone 6a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-10°F
Highest Expected Low	-5°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -10°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -5°F.

Plants to Grow in Bay City

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