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.

A common way of making a decision about when it's the best time to plant garden mums is to consult the USDA zone info for Newark.

Planting Calendar for Garden Mums

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

You can plant garden mums just a bit earlier in the year because they do well in moderate cold.

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

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Newark. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of -10°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Newark is not always accurate the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Newark last frost occurs after April 15 be ready to protect your garden mums if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Newark

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 Newark

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