One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us determine 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.

The USDA zone info for Meridian should be looked at to estimate when it's the best time to plant cuphea.

Planting Calendar for Cuphea

Frost tolerance for cuphea:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After all chance of frost has passed.

Since cuphea are not cold tolerant you have to wait until after the last frost has passed before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant cuphea in Meridian 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 cuphea and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your cuphea may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your cuphea indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost has passed is on March 15 in Meridian. You can expect an average low temperature of 10°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Meridian may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost is different every year. Since half of the time in Meridian there is a last frost after March 15 be ready to protect your cuphea if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Meridian

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 Meridian

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