When to Plant Petunias in East Rutherford, NJ

Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to determine 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 making a decision about when it's possible to plant petunias is to examine the USDA zone info for East Rutherford.


Planting Calendar for Petunias

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

Petunias do ok in moderate cold which tells us that you can start planting them slightly earlier than more sensitive plants.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Legend 
A good time to plant petunias
Possibly ok, but a risky time to plant petunias
Probably not a good time to plant petunias

The earliest that you can plant petunias in East Rutherford 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 petunias and expect a good harvest is probably August. Any later than that and your petunias may not have a chance to fully mature. Starting your petunias indoors is a great way to get them started a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost has passed is on April 15 in East Rutherford. It might get as low as 0°F during the coldest months of winter.

Remember that the actual date of last frost is an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for East Rutherford and it can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in East Rutherford you get a frost after April 15 so make sure that you are prepared to cover your petunias if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for East Rutherford

Here is the info for USDA Zone 7a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)October 15
Lowest Expected Low0°F
Highest Expected Low5°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 0°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 5°F.

Plants to Grow in East Rutherford

You may be interested in your other planting guides for East Rutherford.