When to Plant Petunias in Emporia, VA

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.

The first opportunity to plant petunias in Emporia should be determined by referring to the USDA zone info.


Planting Calendar for Petunias

Frost tolerance for petunias: Tolerant of a very small amount of frost.
When to plant: Up to 3 weeks before last frost.

Petunias do ok in some cold which tells us that you can plant them slightly earlier in the year than more sensitive plants.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Legend 
A good time to plant petunias
Possibly ok, but a risky time to plant petunias
Probably not a good time to plant petunias

The earliest that you can plant petunias in Emporia 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 petunias and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your petunias may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your petunias indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost when the weather gets warmer is on April 15 in Emporia. You can expect an average low temperature of 5°F in the coldest months of winter.

Keep in mind that the actual date of last frost is just an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Emporia and it will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in Emporia it frosts late in the year after April 15 be ready to protect your petunias in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Emporia

Here is the info for USDA Zone 7b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)October 15
Lowest Expected Low5°F
Highest Expected Low10°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 5°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 10°F.

Plants to Grow in Emporia

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