One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us figure out 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 figuring out when it's a good idea to plant hollyhocks is to examine the USDA zone info for Saratoga Springs.

Planting Calendar for Hollyhocks

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

Hollyhocks are one of those plants that can tolerate a little bit of cold weather which tells us that you can start planting them earlier than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

The earliest that you can plant hollyhocks in Saratoga Springs 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 hollyhocks and expect a good harvest is probably September. If you wait any later than that and your hollyhocks may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your hollyhocks indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost is on April 15 in Saratoga Springs. You should expect an average low temperature of -20°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Saratoga Springs is not always accurate the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in Saratoga Springs you get a frost after April 15 be ready to cover your hollyhocks in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Saratoga Springs

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 Saratoga Springs

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Saratoga Springs.