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 referring to the USDA zone info for Iron Mountain it's possible 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 when the weather gets warmer.

It's probably a bad idea to plant cuphea until after the last frost because they are not cold tolerant.

The earliest that you can plant cuphea in Iron Mountain is May. However, you really should wait until June 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. If you wait any later than that and your cuphea may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your cuphea indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is May 15 in Iron Mountain. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of -30°F.

Remember that the actual date of last frost is an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Iron Mountain and it changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Iron Mountain there is a last frost after May 15 be ready to cover your cuphea if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Iron Mountain

Here is the info for USDA Zone 4a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	May 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	September 15
Lowest Expected Low	-30°F
Highest Expected Low	-25°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -30°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -25°F.

Plants to Grow in Iron Mountain

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Iron Mountain.