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.

In Syracuse you can determine when to plant sunflowers by looking at the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Sunflowers

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

Since sunflowers are not cold tolerant you need to wait until after the last frost before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant sunflowers in Syracuse 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 couple of weeks earlier by starting your sunflowers indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Syracuse. It might get as low as 0°F during the coldest months of winter.

Keep in mind that USDA zone info for Syracuse may not be accurate from year to year and the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in Syracuse you get a frost after April 15 be ready to protect your sunflowers in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Syracuse

Here is the info for USDA Zone 7a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	0°F
Highest Expected Low	5°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 0°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 5°F.

Plants to Grow in Syracuse

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