One of the first steps you take when you are figuring out 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 Rio Rancho you can estimate when it's possible to plant creeping phlox by checking out the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Creeping Phlox

Frost tolerance for creeping phlox:	Very tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	Up to 7 weeks before last frost.

You can plant creeping phlox quite a bit earlier in the year because they are very cold tolerant.

The earliest that you can plant creeping phlox in Rio Rancho is February. However, you really should wait until March if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant creeping phlox and expect a good harvest is probably September. If you wait any later than that and your creeping phlox may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your creeping phlox indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Rio Rancho. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of 5°F.

Keep in mind that the actual date of last frost is an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Rio Rancho and it is different every year. Half of the time in Rio Rancho there is a last frost after April 15 so make sure that you are ready to protect your creeping phlox in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Rio Rancho

Here is the info for USDA Zone 7b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	5°F
Highest Expected Low	10°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 5°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 10°F.

Plants to Grow in Rio Rancho

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Rio Rancho.