One of the first steps you take when you are making a decision about 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.

In Rusk you can determine when to plant tall phlox by looking at the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Tall Phlox

Frost tolerance for tall phlox:	Tolerant of some frost.
When to plant:	Up to 5 weeks before last frost.

You can plant tall phlox a little bit earlier in the year because they are one of those plants that can tolerate a little bit of cold weather.

The earliest that you can plant tall phlox in Rusk 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 tall phlox and expect a good harvest is probably September. Any later than that and your tall phlox may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your tall phlox indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost when the weather gets warmer is on March 15 in Rusk. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of 15°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Rusk may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Rusk it frosts late in the year after March 15 be ready to protect your tall phlox in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Rusk

Here is the info for USDA Zone 8b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	March 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	November 15
Lowest Expected Low	15°F
Highest Expected Low	20°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 15°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 20°F.

Plants to Grow in Rusk

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