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 York can be used to figure out when to plant cardinal flower.

Planting Calendar for Cardinal Flower

Frost tolerance for cardinal flower:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After the last frost.

It's probably a bad idea to plant cardinal flower until after the last frost when the weather gets warmer because they are not cold tolerant.

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

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in York. It might get as low as -15°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for York is just an average the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in York last frost occurs after April 15 be ready to cover your cardinal flower if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for York

Here is the info for USDA Zone 5b.

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

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

Plants to Grow in York

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