One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us estimate your gardening schedule is the USDA zone info. 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 estimating when it's a good idea to plant cuphea is to check out the USDA zone info for Ridgefield.

Planting Calendar for Cuphea

Frost tolerance for cuphea:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After all chance of frost has passed.

You can not plant cuphea until after the last frost has passed because they do not do well in cold weather.

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

Last Frost Date

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

Since the USDA zone info for Ridgefield is an average the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Ridgefield you get surprised by a frost after April 15 so make sure that you are ready to cover your cuphea if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Ridgefield

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 Ridgefield

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