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.

You can determine when it's possible to plant geranium in Ithaca by reviewing the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Geranium

Frost tolerance for geranium:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After the last frost when the weather gets warmer.

Since geranium are not cold tolerant you really should wait until after the last frost has passed before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant geranium in Ithaca 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 geranium and expect a good harvest is probably August. Any later than that and your geranium may not have a chance to fully mature. Starting your geranium indoors is a great way to get them started a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

In Ithaca the average date of last frost happens on April 15. You can expect an average low temperature of -10°F in the coldest months of winter.

Remember that USDA zone info for Ithaca is not always accurate and the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in Ithaca you get surprised by a frost after April 15 be ready to protect your geranium in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Ithaca

Here is the info for USDA Zone 6a.

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

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

Plants to Grow in Ithaca

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