The USDA Zone info is a great tool for gardeners to help us determine your gardening schedule. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

One way of determining when it's a good idea to plant sunflowers is to refer to the USDA zone info for Rockingham.

Planting Calendar for Sunflowers

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

Since sunflowers require warm weather you must wait until after the last frost when the weather gets warmer before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant sunflowers in Rockingham 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. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your sunflowers indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost is on March 15 in Rockingham. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of 10°F.

Keep in mind that USDA zone info for Rockingham may not be accurate from year to year and the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Rockingham you get surprised by a frost after March 15 so always be ready to cover your sunflowers if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Rockingham

Here is the info for USDA Zone 8a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	March 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	November 15
Lowest Expected Low	10°F
Highest Expected Low	15°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 10°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 15°F.

Plants to Grow in Rockingham

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