When to Plant Sunflowers in Emerson, NJ

The USDA Zone info is a great tool for gardeners to help us figure out your gardening schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

You can determine when it's possible to plant sunflowers in Emerson by reviewing the USDA zone info.


Planting Calendar for Sunflowers

Frost tolerance for sunflowers: Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant: After the last frost has passed.

It's probably a bad idea to plant sunflowers until after all chance of frost has passed because they do not do well in cold weather.

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

The earliest that you can plant sunflowers in Emerson 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 sunflowers and expect a good harvest is probably August. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your sunflowers may not have a chance to fully mature. Starting your sunflowers indoors is a great way to get them started a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

In Emerson the average date of last frost happens on April 15. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of 0°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Emerson is not always accurate the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Emerson you get surprised by a frost after April 15 so always be ready to cover your sunflowers in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Emerson

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 Emerson

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