One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us estimate 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.

A common way of determining when it's a good idea to plant polygonums is to examine the USDA zone info for Shippensburg.

Planting Calendar for Polygonums

Frost tolerance for polygonums:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After the last frost.

You should not plant polygonums until after all chance of frost has passed because they do not do well in cold weather.

The earliest that you can plant polygonums in Shippensburg 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 polygonums and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your polygonums may not have a chance to really do well. If you are starting your polygonums 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 Shippensburg. It might get as low as -5°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Shippensburg is just an average the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in Shippensburg last frost occurs after April 15 be ready to cover your polygonums in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Shippensburg

Here is the info for USDA Zone 6b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-5°F
Highest Expected Low	0°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -5°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 0°F.

Plants to Grow in Shippensburg

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