One of the first steps you take when you are determining 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.

The USDA zone info for Bellefontaine can be read to estimate when you can plant sunflowers.

Planting Calendar for Sunflowers

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

Since sunflowers do not do well in cold weather it's important to wait until after all chance of frost has passed before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant sunflowers in Bellefontaine 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 sunflowers and expect a good harvest is probably August. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your sunflowers may not have a chance to fully mature. If you are starting your sunflowers indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost is on April 15 in Bellefontaine. You can expect an average low temperature of -10°F in the coldest months of winter.

Always keep in mind that the actual date of last frost is just an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Bellefontaine and it changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Bellefontaine last frost occurs after April 15 be ready to cover your sunflowers in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Bellefontaine

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 Bellefontaine

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