One of the first steps you take when you are figuring out 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.

A way of figuring out when to plant cosmos is to refer to the USDA zone info for Ellwood City.

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.

Cosmos do well in very little cold which tells us that you can plant them slightly earlier in the year than other plants that might not handle the cold.

The earliest that you can plant cosmos in Ellwood City 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 fully mature. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your cosmos indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost when the weather gets warmer is on April 15 in Ellwood City. It might get as low as -10°F during the coldest months of winter.

Keep in mind that the actual date of last frost is just an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Ellwood City and it can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Ellwood City you get surprised by a frost after April 15 be ready to cover your cosmos if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Ellwood City

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 Ellwood City

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Ellwood City.