One of the first steps you take when you are getting a good idea 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.

By reviewing the USDA zone info for Washington you should be able to estimate when it's a good idea to plant maltese cross.

Planting Calendar for Maltese Cross

Frost tolerance for maltese cross:	Tolerant of some frost.
When to plant:	Up to 5 weeks before last frost.

Maltese Cross do well in moderate cold which tells us that you can start planting them earlier than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

The earliest that you can plant maltese cross in Washington 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 maltese cross and expect a good harvest is probably September. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your maltese cross may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your maltese cross indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost when the weather gets warmer is on April 15 in Washington. You can expect an average low temperature of -10°F in the coldest months of winter.

Just be sure to remember that USDA zone info for Washington is just an average and the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Washington it frosts late in the year after April 15 so be sure to be ready to protect your maltese cross in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Washington

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 Washington

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