One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us figure out your gardening schedule is the USDA zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

In Carthage you can determine when to plant polygonums by using the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Polygonums

Frost tolerance for polygonums:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After the last frost has passed.

Since polygonums are not cold tolerant it's necessary to wait until after the last frost before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant polygonums in Carthage 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 polygonums and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your polygonums may not have a chance to fully mature. If you are starting your polygonums indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is March 15 in Carthage. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of 10°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Carthage is just an average the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Carthage last frost occurs after March 15 be ready to protect your polygonums in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Carthage

Here is the info for USDA Zone 8a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	March 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	November 15
Lowest Expected Low	10°F
Highest Expected Low	15°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 15°F.

Plants to Grow in Carthage

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