The USDA Zone info is a great tool for gardeners to help us estimate your gardening schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

One way of making a decision about when you can plant cosmos is to examine the USDA zone info for Clinton.

Planting Calendar for Cosmos

Frost tolerance for cosmos:	Tolerant of a very small amount of frost.
When to plant:	Up to 3 weeks before last frost.

You can plant cosmos a bit earlier in the year because they do ok in moderate cold.

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

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

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Clinton. You can expect an average low temperature of 0°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Clinton is an average the actual date of last frost is different every year. Since half of the time in Clinton there is a last frost after April 15 be ready to cover your cosmos if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Clinton

Here is the info for USDA Zone 7a.

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

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

Plants to Grow in Clinton

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