One of the first steps you take when you are getting a good idea 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 way of determining when it's possible to plant phlox is to examine the USDA zone info for Rome.

Planting Calendar for Phlox

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

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

The earliest that you can plant phlox in Rome 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. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your phlox may not have a chance to really do well. If you are starting your phlox indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Rome. You can expect an average low temperature of -20°F in the coldest months of winter.

Just be sure to remember that USDA zone info for Rome is not always accurate and the actual date of last frost is different every year. Since half of the time in Rome you get surprised by a frost after April 15 be ready to protect your phlox if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Rome

Here is the info for USDA Zone 5a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-20°F
Highest Expected Low	-15°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -20°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -15°F.

Plants to Grow in Rome

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