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 using the USDA zone info for Raleigh it's possible to estimate when it's a good idea to plant petunias.

Planting Calendar for Petunias

Frost tolerance for petunias:	Tolerant of a very small amount of frost.
When to plant:	Up to 3 weeks before last frost.

Petunias do ok in moderate cold which means that you can plant them slightly earlier than other plants that might not handle the cold.

The earliest that you can plant petunias in Raleigh 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 petunias and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your petunias may not have a chance to grow to maturity. If you are starting your petunias indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

In Raleigh the average date of last frost happens on April 15. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of 5°F.

It's important to remember that USDA zone info for Raleigh is not always accurate and the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Raleigh last frost occurs after April 15 so make sure that you are ready to cover your petunias if you have one of those late frosts.

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.