When to Plant Thyme in Punxsutawney, PA

Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to estimate your garden schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

In Punxsutawney you can figure out when to plant thyme by using the USDA zone info.


Planting Calendar for Thyme

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

You can plant thyme much earlier in the year because they are one of those plants that can tolerate quite a bit of cold weather.

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

The earliest that you can plant thyme in Punxsutawney 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 thyme and expect a good harvest is probably September. If you wait any later than that and your thyme may not have a chance to really do well. If you are starting your thyme indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Punxsutawney. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of -15°F.

Remember that the actual date of last frost is an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Punxsutawney and it will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in Punxsutawney last frost occurs after April 15 be ready to cover your thyme if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Punxsutawney

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 Punxsutawney

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