When to Plant Dallas Fern in Swarthmore, PA

One of the first steps you take when you are getting a good idea your gardening schedule is find your USDA Zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

The USDA zone info for Swarthmore can be reffered to in order to determine when it's possible to plant dallas fern.


Planting Calendar for Dallas Fern

Frost tolerance for dallas fern: Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant: After the last frost when the weather gets warmer.

You can not plant dallas fern until after all chance of frost has passed because they do not do well in cold weather.

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

The earliest that you can plant dallas fern in Swarthmore 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 dallas fern and expect a good harvest is probably August. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your dallas fern may not have a chance to really do well. Starting your dallas fern indoors is a great way to get them started a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

In Swarthmore the average date of last frost happens on April 15. You should expect an average low temperature of 0°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Swarthmore is just an average the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in Swarthmore it frosts late in the year after April 15 be ready to protect your dallas fern in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Swarthmore

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 Low0°F
Highest Expected Low5°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 Swarthmore

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