One of the first steps you take when you are figuring out 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.

You should be able to figure out when it's a good idea to plant sunflowers by checking out the USDA zone info for Mansfield.

Planting Calendar for Sunflowers

Frost tolerance for sunflowers:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After all chance of frost has passed.

Sunflowers are not cold tolerant which means that it is necessary to wait until it warms up after the last frost has passed before you can plant them.

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

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is March 15 in Mansfield. You should expect an average low temperature of 10°F in the coldest months of winter.

Just be sure to remember that USDA zone info for Mansfield may not be accurate from year to year and the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Mansfield there is a last frost after March 15 so be sure to be ready to cover your sunflowers if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Mansfield

Here is the info for USDA Zone 8a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	March 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	November 15
Lowest Expected Low	10°F
Highest Expected Low	15°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 10°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 15°F.

Plants to Grow in Mansfield

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