When to Plant Red Hot Pokers in Dover, NJ

One of the first steps you take when you are determining your gardening schedule is find your USDA Zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

A common way of getting a good idea when to plant red hot pokers is to consult the USDA zone info for Dover.


Planting Calendar for Red Hot Pokers

Frost tolerance for red hot pokers: Very tolerant of frost.
When to plant: Up to 7 weeks before last frost.

Red Hot Pokers do well in cold weather which tells us that you can plant them quite a bit earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Legend 
A good time to plant red hot pokers
Possibly ok, but a risky time to plant red hot pokers
Probably not a good time to plant red hot pokers

The earliest that you can plant red hot pokers in Dover is February. However, you really should wait until March if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant red hot pokers and expect a good harvest is probably September. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your red hot pokers may not have a chance to grow to maturity. If you are starting your red hot pokers indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost has passed is on April 15 in Dover. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of -10°F.

It's important to remember that the actual date of last frost may not be accurate from year to year because it is based on the USDA zone info for Dover and it can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Dover there is a last frost after April 15 be ready to cover your red hot pokers if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Dover

Here is the info for USDA Zone 6a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)October 15
Lowest Expected Low-10°F
Highest Expected Low-5°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 -5°F.

Plants to Grow in Dover

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