The USDA Zone info is a great tool for gardeners to help us determine your gardening schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

One way of estimating when it's a good idea to plant primula is to examine the USDA zone info for Poughkeepsie.

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 quite a bit earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant primula in Poughkeepsie 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. 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

On average all chance of frost has passed is on April 15 in Poughkeepsie. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of -10°F.

Remember that USDA zone info for Poughkeepsie is an average and the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Poughkeepsie there is a last frost after April 15 so just be sure to be ready to cover your primula if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Poughkeepsie

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 Poughkeepsie

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