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.

By referring to the USDA zone info for East Rockaway you should be able to figure out when to plant phlox.

Planting Calendar for Phlox

Frost tolerance for phlox:	Tolerant of some frost.
When to plant:	Up to 5 weeks before last frost.

Phlox do well in a little bit of cold which means that you can plant them a bit earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant phlox in East Rockaway 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 phlox and expect a good harvest is probably September. Any later than that and your phlox may not have a chance to fully mature. Starting your phlox indoors is a great way to get them started a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost when the weather gets warmer is on April 15 in East Rockaway. It might get as low as 5°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for East Rockaway is just an average the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in East Rockaway you get a frost after April 15 be ready to protect your phlox in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for East Rockaway

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 East Rockaway

You may be interested in your other planting guides for East Rockaway.