When to Plant Sunflowers in Oil City, PA

Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to figure out your garden schedule. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

The USDA zone info for Oil City can be looked at to determine when it's the best time to plant sunflowers.


Planting Calendar for Sunflowers

Frost tolerance for sunflowers: Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant: After all chance of frost has passed.

Since sunflowers do not do well in cold weather you need to wait until after the last frost when the weather gets warmer before you can plant them.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Legend 
A good time to plant sunflowers
Possibly ok, but a risky time to plant sunflowers
Probably not a good time to plant sunflowers

The earliest that you can plant sunflowers in Oil City 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 sunflowers and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your sunflowers may not have a chance to really do well. If you are starting your sunflowers 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 Oil City. You should expect an average low temperature of -15°F in the coldest months of winter.

Just be sure to remember that USDA zone info for Oil City may not be accurate from year to year and the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Oil City it frosts late in the year after April 15 so just be sure to be ready to protect your sunflowers if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Oil City

Here is the info for USDA Zone 5b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)October 15
Lowest Expected Low-15°F
Highest Expected Low-10°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 -10°F.

Plants to Grow in Oil City

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