Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to figure out your garden schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

The USDA zone info for Utica should be reviewed to figure out when to plant primula.

Planting Calendar for Primula

Frost tolerance for primula:	Very tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	Up to 7 weeks before last frost.

Primula are one of those plants that can tolerate quite a bit of cold weather which tells us that you can get them planted much earlier than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant primula in Utica 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 grow to maturity. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your primula indoors.

Last Frost Date

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

Since the USDA zone info for Utica is just an average the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Utica last frost occurs after April 15 so always be ready to protect your primula if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Utica

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 Utica

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