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.

A common way of making a decision about when to plant cardinal flower is to use the USDA zone info for Eastlake.

Planting Calendar for Cardinal Flower

Frost tolerance for cardinal flower:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After the last frost when the weather gets warmer.

You really shouldn't plant cardinal flower 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 cardinal flower in Eastlake 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 cardinal flower and expect a good harvest is probably August. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your cardinal flower may not have a chance to grow to maturity. If you are starting your cardinal flower indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

In Eastlake the average date of last frost happens on April 15. It might get as low as -5°F during the coldest months of winter.

It's important to remember that USDA zone info for Eastlake is just an average and the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Eastlake there is a last frost after April 15 so always be ready to cover your cardinal flower in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Eastlake

Here is the info for USDA Zone 6b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-5°F
Highest Expected Low	0°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -5°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 0°F.

Plants to Grow in Eastlake

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