One of the first steps you take when you are determining 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.

One way of estimating when you can plant schizanthus is to examine the USDA zone info for Utica.

Planting Calendar for Schizanthus

Frost tolerance for schizanthus:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After the last frost.

Since schizanthus are not cold tolerant it's necessary to wait until after the last frost before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant schizanthus in Utica is April. However, you really should wait until May if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant schizanthus and expect a good harvest is probably August. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your schizanthus may not have a chance to fully mature. Starting your schizanthus indoors is a great way to get them started a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost when the weather gets warmer is on April 15 in Utica. You should expect an average low temperature of -10°F in the coldest months of winter.

Just be sure to remember that the actual date of last frost may not be accurate from year to year because it is based on the USDA zone info for Utica and it can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Utica you get a frost after April 15 so make sure that you are prepared to cover your schizanthus in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Utica

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 Utica

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