One of the first steps you take when you are figuring out your gardening schedule is find your 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.

In Dickinson you can estimate when it's the best time to plant petunias by using the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Petunias

Frost tolerance for petunias:	Tolerant of a very small amount of frost.
When to plant:	Up to 3 weeks before last frost.

Petunias do ok in moderate cold which means that you can start planting them slightly earlier than other plants that might not handle the cold.

The earliest that you can plant petunias in Dickinson 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 petunias and expect a good harvest is probably September. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your petunias may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your petunias indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is February 15 in Dickinson. You should expect an average low temperature of 20°F in the coldest months of winter.

Always keep in mind that the actual date of last frost may not be accurate from year to year because it is based on the USDA zone info for Dickinson and it can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Dickinson it frosts late in the year after February 15 be ready to protect your petunias if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Dickinson

Here is the info for USDA Zone 9a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	February 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	December 15
Lowest Expected Low	20°F
Highest Expected Low	25°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 20°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 25°F.

Plants to Grow in Dickinson

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