One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us figure out your gardening schedule is the USDA zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

A common way of estimating when it's a good idea to plant cuphea is to examine the USDA zone info for Lumberton.

Planting Calendar for Cuphea

Frost tolerance for cuphea:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After the last frost has passed.

It's a bad idea to plant cuphea until after all chance of frost has passed because they require warm weather.

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

Last Frost Date

In Lumberton the average date of last frost happens on February 15. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of 20°F.

Keep in mind that the actual date of last frost is an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Lumberton and it can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Lumberton you get surprised by a frost after February 15 so be sure to be ready to cover your cuphea if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Lumberton

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 Lumberton

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