One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us determine your gardening schedule is the USDA zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

The first chance to plant red hot pokers in Newport can be determined by checking out the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Red Hot Pokers

Frost tolerance for red hot pokers:	Very tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	Up to 7 weeks before last frost.

Since red hot pokers are very cold tolerant you can plant them quite a bit earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant red hot pokers in Newport 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 red hot pokers and expect a good harvest is probably September. Any later than that and your red hot pokers may not have a chance to grow to maturity. Starting your red hot pokers indoors is a great way to get them started a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost is on March 15 in Newport. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of 15°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Newport is an average the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Newport there is a last frost after March 15 so make sure that you are prepared to cover your red hot pokers if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Newport

Here is the info for USDA Zone 8b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	March 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	November 15
Lowest Expected Low	15°F
Highest Expected Low	20°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 15°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 20°F.

Plants to Grow in Newport

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