One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us figure out 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 USDA zone info for New Castle can be read to estimate when to plant schizanthus.

Planting Calendar for Schizanthus

Frost tolerance for schizanthus:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After the last frost when the weather gets warmer.

It's probably not a good idea to plant schizanthus until after the last frost because they are not cold tolerant.

The earliest that you can plant schizanthus in New Castle is April. However, you really should wait until May if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant schizanthus and expect a good harvest is probably August. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your schizanthus may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your schizanthus indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in New Castle. It might get as low as -10°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for New Castle is an average the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in New Castle you get a frost after April 15 so make sure that you are ready to protect your schizanthus in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for New Castle

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 New Castle

You may be interested in your other planting guides for New Castle.