Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to figure out your garden schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

A common way of estimating when it's the best time to plant cardinal flower is to consult the USDA zone info for Dexter.

Planting Calendar for Cardinal Flower

Frost tolerance for cardinal flower:	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 cardinal flower until after the last frost when the weather gets warmer because they require warm weather.

The earliest that you can plant cardinal flower in Dexter 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 cardinal flower and expect a good harvest is probably August. Any later than that and your cardinal flower may not have a chance to grow to maturity. Starting your cardinal flower indoors is a great way to get them started a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Dexter. It might get as low as 0°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Dexter is not always accurate the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Dexter you get a frost after April 15 be ready to cover your cardinal flower in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Dexter

Here is the info for USDA Zone 7a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	0°F
Highest Expected Low	5°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 0°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 5°F.

Plants to Grow in Dexter

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