One of the first steps you take when you are figuring out 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 checking out the USDA zone info for Helena you should be able to determine when it's possible to plant red hot pokers.

Planting Calendar for Red Hot Pokers

Frost tolerance for red hot pokers:	Very tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	Up to 7 weeks before last frost.

You can plant red hot pokers earlier in the year because they are very cold tolerant.

The earliest that you can plant red hot pokers in Helena is March. However, you really should wait until April if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant red hot pokers and expect a good harvest is probably August. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your red hot pokers may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your red hot pokers indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost is on May 15 in Helena. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of -25°F.

It's important to remember that the actual date of last frost may not be accurate from year to year because it is based on the USDA zone info for Helena and it changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Helena you get a frost after May 15 be ready to protect your red hot pokers if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Helena

Here is the info for USDA Zone 4b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	May 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	September 15
Lowest Expected Low	-25°F
Highest Expected Low	-20°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -25°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -20°F.

Plants to Grow in Helena

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