One of the first steps you take when you are estimating 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 Bowie should be read to determine when it's a good idea to plant zinnia.

Planting Calendar for Zinnia

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

Zinnia do not do well in cold weather which tells us that you must wait until it warms up after the last frost before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant zinnia in Bowie 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 zinnia and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your zinnia may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your zinnia indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost is on April 15 in Bowie. It might get as low as 5°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Bowie is an average the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Bowie it frosts late in the year after April 15 so always be ready to cover your zinnia if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Bowie

Here is the info for USDA Zone 7b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	5°F
Highest Expected Low	10°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 10°F.

Plants to Grow in Bowie

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