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

It's a good idea to figure out when it's possible to plant delphinium by using the USDA zone info for Amherst.

Planting Calendar for Delphinium

Frost tolerance for delphinium:	Tolerant of a very small amount of frost.
When to plant:	Up to 3 weeks before last frost.

You can plant delphinium slightly earlier in the year because they are barely cold tolerant.

The earliest that you can plant delphinium in Amherst is March. However, you really should wait until April if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant delphinium and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your delphinium may not have a chance to fully mature. If you are starting your delphinium indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Amherst. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of -10°F.

Keep in mind that the actual date of last frost is just an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Amherst and it can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Amherst there is a last frost after April 15 be ready to protect your delphinium if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Amherst

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 Amherst

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