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.

In Fairmont you can estimate when it's possible to plant delphinium by looking at the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Delphinium

Frost tolerance for delphinium:	Tolerant of a very small amount of frost.
When to plant:	Up to 3 weeks before last frost.

You can plant delphinium slightly earlier in the year because they do ok in moderate cold.

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

The last month that you can plant delphinium and expect a good harvest is probably August. Any later than that and your delphinium may not have a chance to grow to maturity. If you are starting your delphinium indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Fairmont. You can expect an average low temperature of -20°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Fairmont is not always accurate the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in Fairmont it frosts late in the year after April 15 be ready to protect your delphinium if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Fairmont

Here is the info for USDA Zone 5a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-20°F
Highest Expected Low	-15°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -20°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -15°F.

Plants to Grow in Fairmont

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