The USDA Zone info is a great tool for gardeners to help us figure out your gardening schedule. 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 Wilmington should be used to figure out when it's a good idea to plant hollyhocks.

Planting Calendar for Hollyhocks

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

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

The earliest that you can plant hollyhocks in Wilmington 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 hollyhocks and expect a good harvest is probably September. If you wait any later than that and your hollyhocks may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your hollyhocks indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost is on April 15 in Wilmington. It might get as low as -10°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Wilmington is an average the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Wilmington it frosts late in the year after April 15 be ready to cover your hollyhocks in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Wilmington

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 Wilmington

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