One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us determine your gardening schedule is the USDA zone info. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

It's a good idea to estimate when it's possible to plant cardinal flower by looking at the USDA zone info for Excelsior Springs.

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.

You should not plant cardinal flower until after all chance of frost has passed because they are not cold tolerant.

The earliest that you can plant cardinal flower in Excelsior Springs 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. If you wait any later than that and your cardinal flower may not have a chance to grow to maturity. If you are starting your cardinal flower indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost is on April 15 in Excelsior Springs. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of -10°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Excelsior Springs is not always accurate the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Excelsior Springs you get a frost after April 15 so make sure that you are ready to protect your cardinal flower in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Excelsior Springs

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 Excelsior Springs

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Excelsior Springs.