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

It's possible to estimate when it's a good idea to plant centaurea by reviewing the USDA zone info for Stow.

Planting Calendar for Centaurea

Frost tolerance for centaurea:	Tolerant of some frost.
When to plant:	Up to 5 weeks before last frost.

You can plant centaurea a little bit earlier in the year because they are moderately cold tolerant.

The earliest that you can plant centaurea in Stow is February. However, you really should wait until March if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant centaurea and expect a good harvest is probably September. If you wait any later than that and your centaurea may not have a chance to fully mature. Starting your centaurea indoors is a great way to get them started a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost when the weather gets warmer is on April 15 in Stow. You can expect an average low temperature of -5°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Stow may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost is different every year. Since half of the time in Stow there is a last frost after April 15 be ready to protect your centaurea if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Stow

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 Stow

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