One of the first steps you take when you are making a decision about 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 Melvindale it's a good idea to estimate when to plant red hot pokers.

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.

Red Hot Pokers do well in cold which means that you can start planting them much earlier than other plants that might not handle the cold.

The earliest that you can plant red hot pokers in Melvindale 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. If you wait any later than that and your red hot pokers may not have a chance to grow to maturity. If you are starting your red hot pokers indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

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

Since the USDA zone info for Melvindale is an average the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in Melvindale there is a last frost after April 15 be ready to protect your red hot pokers in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Melvindale

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 Melvindale

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