Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to figure out your garden schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

By reviewing the USDA zone info for Black Mountain it's a good idea to estimate when it's the best time 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.

Since red hot pokers do well in cold you can plant them much earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant red hot pokers in Black Mountain is February. However, you really should wait until March 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 September. If you wait any later than that and 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

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Black Mountain. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of 0°F.

Just be sure to remember that the actual date of last frost is just an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Black Mountain and it changes from year to year. Half of the time in Black Mountain it frosts late in the year after April 15 so make sure that you are prepared to protect your red hot pokers if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Black Mountain

Here is the info for USDA Zone 7a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	0°F
Highest Expected Low	5°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 0°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 5°F.

Plants to Grow in Black Mountain

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Black Mountain.