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.

You can determine when to plant cuphea in Portsmouth by reviewing the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Cuphea

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

It's probably not a good idea to plant cuphea until after all chance of frost has passed because they do not do well in cold weather.

The earliest that you can plant cuphea in Portsmouth 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 cuphea and expect a good harvest is probably August. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your cuphea may not have a chance to grow to maturity. Starting your cuphea indoors is a great way to get them started a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost has passed is on April 15 in Portsmouth. You can expect an average low temperature of -5°F in the coldest months of winter.

It's important to remember that USDA zone info for Portsmouth is not always accurate and the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in Portsmouth you get a frost after April 15 be ready to protect your cuphea if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Portsmouth

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 Portsmouth

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