One of the first steps you take when you are determining 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.

The USDA zone info for Dunkirk can be read to determine when it's the best time to plant primula.

Planting Calendar for Primula

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

Primula can survive in pretty solid cold which tells us that you can plant them a lot earlier in the year than more sensitive plants.

The earliest that you can plant primula in Dunkirk 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 primula and expect a good harvest is probably September. If you wait any later than that and your primula may not have a chance to really do well. Starting your primula indoors is a great way to get them started a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

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

Since the USDA zone info for Dunkirk is not always accurate the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Dunkirk there is a last frost after April 15 so be sure to be ready to protect your primula in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Dunkirk

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 Dunkirk

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