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 Mercedes should be looked at to determine when it's possible to plant cardinal flower.

Planting Calendar for Cardinal Flower

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

Cardinal Flower require warm weather which tells us that you really should wait until it warms up after the last frost before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant cardinal flower in Mercedes 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 cardinal flower and expect a good harvest is probably September. If you wait any later than that and your cardinal flower may not have a chance to really do well. Starting your cardinal flower indoors is a great way to get them started a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

In Mercedes the average date of last frost happens on February 15. You can expect an average low temperature of 25°F in the coldest months of winter.

Just be sure to remember that USDA zone info for Mercedes is an average and the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Mercedes you get a frost after February 15 so just be sure to be ready to protect your cardinal flower if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Mercedes

Here is the info for USDA Zone 9b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	February 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	December 15
Lowest Expected Low	25°F
Highest Expected Low	30°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 25°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 30°F.

Plants to Grow in Mercedes

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