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.

One way of getting a good idea when you can plant cleome is to use the USDA zone info for Elk River.

Planting Calendar for Cleome

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

It's probably not a good idea to plant cleome until after all chance of frost has passed because they do not do well in cold weather.

The earliest that you can plant cleome in Elk River 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 cleome and expect a good harvest is probably August. Any later than that and your cleome may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your cleome indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average all chance of frost has passed is on May 15 in Elk River. It might get as low as -25°F during the coldest months of winter.

Keep in mind that USDA zone info for Elk River may not be accurate from year to year and the actual date of last frost is different every year. Half of the time in Elk River you get surprised by a frost after May 15 so always be ready to protect your cleome in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Elk River

Here is the info for USDA Zone 4b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	May 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	September 15
Lowest Expected Low	-25°F
Highest Expected Low	-20°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -25°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -20°F.

Plants to Grow in Elk River

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Elk River.