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 way of making a decision about when it's the best time to plant mimulus is to check out the USDA zone info for Penn Yan.

Planting Calendar for Mimulus

Frost tolerance for mimulus:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After all chance of frost has passed.

Mimulus do not do well in cold weather which means that it is necessary to wait until it warms up after the last frost before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant mimulus in Penn Yan 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 mimulus and expect a good harvest is probably August. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your mimulus may not have a chance to fully mature. If you are starting your mimulus indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

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

Since the USDA zone info for Penn Yan may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Penn Yan you get surprised by a frost after April 15 be ready to protect your mimulus in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Penn Yan

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 Penn Yan

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Penn Yan.