The USDA Zone info is a great tool for gardeners to help us figure out your gardening schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

A common way of estimating when it's a good idea to plant cuphea is to use the USDA zone info for Ironwood.

Planting Calendar for Cuphea

Frost tolerance for cuphea:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After the last frost when the weather gets warmer.

You should not plant cuphea until after all chance of frost has passed because they are not cold tolerant.

The earliest that you can plant cuphea in Ironwood 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. Any later than that and your cuphea may not have a chance to really do well. If you are starting your cuphea indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

In Ironwood the average date of last frost happens on May 15. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of -30°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Ironwood may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Ironwood there is a last frost after May 15 so be sure to be ready to protect your cuphea if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Ironwood

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 Ironwood

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