Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to estimate your garden schedule. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

A common way of determining when it's the best time to plant cleome is to look at the USDA zone info for Raleigh.

Planting Calendar for Cleome

Frost tolerance for cleome:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After all chance of frost has passed.

It's probably a bad idea to plant cleome until after the last frost has passed because they require warm weather.

The earliest that you can plant cleome in Raleigh 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 cleome and expect a good harvest is probably August. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your cleome may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your cleome indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average all chance of frost has passed is on April 15 in Raleigh. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of 5°F.

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 Raleigh and it will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Raleigh it frosts late in the year after April 15 so make sure that you are prepared to cover your cleome in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Raleigh

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 Raleigh

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