One of the first steps you take when you are making a decision about 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.

One way of estimating when it's the best time to plant zinnia is to refer to the USDA zone info for Oxford.

Planting Calendar for Zinnia

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

You can not plant zinnia until after the last frost when the weather gets warmer because they are not cold tolerant.

The earliest that you can plant zinnia in Oxford 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 zinnia and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your zinnia may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your zinnia indoors.

Last Frost Date

In Oxford the average date of last frost happens on April 15. It might get as low as -10°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Oxford is just an average the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Oxford there is a last frost after April 15 be ready to protect your zinnia if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Oxford

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 Oxford

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