One of the first steps you take when you are determining your gardening schedule is find your USDA Zone info. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

In Washington you can estimate when it's a good idea to plant strawflowers by using the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Strawflowers

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

You can plant strawflowers slightly earlier in the year because they do ok in moderate cold.

The earliest that you can plant strawflowers in Washington 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 strawflowers and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your strawflowers may not have a chance to really do well. Starting your strawflowers indoors is a great way to get them started a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost when the weather gets warmer is on March 15 in Washington. It might get as low as 10°F during the coldest months of winter.

Remember that USDA zone info for Washington may not be accurate from year to year and the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Washington last frost occurs after March 15 so make sure that you are prepared to protect your strawflowers if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Washington

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 Washington

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