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.

The USDA zone info for Morganton can be reviewed to figure out when it's the best time to plant sunflowers.

Planting Calendar for Sunflowers

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

Since sunflowers are not cold tolerant it is important to wait until after the last frost has passed before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant sunflowers in Morganton 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 grow to maturity. Starting your sunflowers indoors is a great way to get them started a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Morganton. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of 5°F.

Remember that the actual date of last frost is an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Morganton and it changes from year to year. Half of the time in Morganton last frost occurs after April 15 so be sure to be ready to cover your sunflowers if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Morganton

Here is the info for USDA Zone 7b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	5°F
Highest Expected Low	10°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 5°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 10°F.

Plants to Grow in Morganton

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