Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to determine your garden schedule. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

A way of making a decision about when it's a good idea to plant zinnia is to examine the USDA zone info for Elmwood Park.

Planting Calendar for Zinnia

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

You should not plant zinnia until after the last frost when the weather gets warmer because they require warm weather.

The earliest that you can plant zinnia in Elmwood Park 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 zinnia and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your zinnia may not have a chance to grow to maturity. If you are starting your zinnia indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost has passed is on April 15 in Elmwood Park. You should expect an average low temperature of 0°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Elmwood Park is just an average the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in Elmwood Park there is a last frost after April 15 be ready to protect your zinnia if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Elmwood Park

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 Low	0°F
Highest Expected Low	5°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 Elmwood Park

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Elmwood Park.