One of the first steps you take when you are estimating 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.

In Vicksburg you can figure out when it's a good idea to plant sunflowers by looking at the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Sunflowers

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

Since sunflowers require warm weather it is necessary to wait until after all chance of frost has passed before you can plant them.

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

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost when the weather gets warmer is on March 15 in Vicksburg. It might get as low as 10°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Vicksburg is just an average the actual date of last frost is different every year. Since half of the time in Vicksburg there is a last frost after March 15 be ready to cover your sunflowers in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Vicksburg

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 Vicksburg

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