Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to estimate your garden schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

One way of estimating when it's possible to plant cleome is to look at the USDA zone info for Dover.

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 because they do not do well in cold weather.

The earliest that you can plant cleome in Dover 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. Starting your cleome indoors is a great way to get them started a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

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

Since the USDA zone info for Dover is just an average the actual date of last frost is different every year. Half of the time in Dover last frost occurs after April 15 so be sure to be ready to cover your cleome in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Dover

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 Dover

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