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.

In Princeton you can determine when you can plant red hot pokers by referring to the USDA zone info.

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.

Since red hot pokers are one of those plants that can tolerate quite a bit of cold weather you can plant them quite a bit earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant red hot pokers in Princeton 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 red hot pokers and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your red hot pokers may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your red hot pokers indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is May 15 in Princeton. You should expect an average low temperature of -30°F in the coldest months of winter.

Always keep in mind that the actual date of last frost is an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Princeton and it will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Princeton it frosts late in the year after May 15 so just be sure to be ready to cover your red hot pokers in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Princeton

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 Princeton

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