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

A common way of figuring out when it's a good idea to plant red hot pokers is to use the USDA zone info for Ballwin.

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 can survive in quite a bit of cold which tells us that you can plant them much earlier in the year than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

The earliest that you can plant red hot pokers in Ballwin 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. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else 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 April 15 in Ballwin. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of -10°F.

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 Ballwin and it will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Ballwin you get surprised by a frost after April 15 so just be sure to be ready to protect your red hot pokers if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Ballwin

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 Ballwin

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