One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us determine your gardening schedule is the USDA zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

A common way of making a decision about when it's the best time to plant polygonums is to check out the USDA zone info for Ruidoso.

Planting Calendar for Polygonums

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

Since polygonums are not cold tolerant you need to wait until after the last frost has passed before you can plant them.

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

Last Frost Date

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

Remember that the actual date of last frost is an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Ruidoso and it will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Ruidoso there is a last frost after April 15 so just be sure to be ready to protect your polygonums if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Ruidoso

Here is the info for USDA Zone 6b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-5°F
Highest Expected Low	0°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 0°F.

Plants to Grow in Ruidoso

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