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.

One way of making a decision about when it's the best time to plant celosia is to refer to the USDA zone info for Starkville.

Planting Calendar for Celosia

Frost tolerance for celosia:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After the last frost when the weather gets warmer.

It's a bad idea to plant celosia until after the last frost has passed because they do not do well in cold weather.

The earliest that you can plant celosia in Starkville 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 celosia and expect a good harvest is probably August. Any later than that and your celosia may not have a chance to grow to maturity. If you are starting your celosia indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

In Starkville the average date of last frost happens on March 15. You can expect an average low temperature of 10°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Starkville is an average the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Starkville there is a last frost after March 15 so just be sure to be ready to cover your celosia in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Starkville

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 Starkville

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