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 earliest that you can plant maltese cross in Philadelphia should be estimated by checking out the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Maltese Cross

Frost tolerance for maltese cross:	Tolerant of some frost.
When to plant:	Up to 5 weeks before last frost.

Since maltese cross are one of those plants that can tolerate a little bit of cold weather you can plant them just a bit earlier in the year than other plants that might not handle the cold.

The earliest that you can plant maltese cross in Philadelphia 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 maltese cross and expect a good harvest is probably September. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your maltese cross may not have a chance to grow to maturity. If you are starting your maltese cross indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost when the weather gets warmer is on April 15 in Philadelphia. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of 0°F.

It's important to remember that USDA zone info for Philadelphia is an average and the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Philadelphia last frost occurs after April 15 be ready to cover your maltese cross in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Philadelphia

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 Philadelphia

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