One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us estimate 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.

By checking out the USDA zone info for Athens it's a good idea to determine when it's the best time to plant canna.

Planting Calendar for Canna

Frost tolerance for canna:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After all chance of frost has passed.

It's a bad idea to plant canna until after the last frost when the weather gets warmer because they do not do well in cold weather.

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

The last month that you can plant canna and expect a good harvest is probably August. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your canna may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your canna indoors.

Last Frost Date

In Athens the average date of last frost happens on April 15. You can expect an average low temperature of -10°F in the coldest months of winter.

It's important to remember that the actual date of last frost may not be accurate from year to year because it is based on the USDA zone info for Athens and it changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Athens it frosts late in the year after April 15 be ready to cover your canna in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Athens

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 Athens

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