One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us determine your gardening schedule is the USDA zone info. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

You can figure out when it's the best time to plant cosmos in Scranton by reviewing the USDA zone info.

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.

Since cosmos are one of those plants that can tolerate a tiny bit of cold weather 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 Scranton 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. If you wait any later than that and your cosmos may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your cosmos indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost is on April 15 in Scranton. It might get as low as -10°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Scranton is an average the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Scranton last frost occurs after April 15 so always be ready to cover your cosmos if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Scranton

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 Scranton

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