One of the first steps you take when you are making a decision about 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.

In South River you can figure out when it's a good idea to plant sunflowers by using the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Sunflowers

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

Since sunflowers do not do well in cold weather you have to wait until after the last frost when the weather gets warmer before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant sunflowers in South River 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. Any later than that and your sunflowers may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your sunflowers indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in South River. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of 0°F.

Keep in mind that USDA zone info for South River is just an average and the actual date of last frost is different every year. Half of the time in South River it frosts late in the year after April 15 so always be ready to cover your sunflowers if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for South River

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 South River

You may be interested in your other planting guides for South River.