Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to estimate your garden schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

A way of figuring out when it's a good idea to plant sunflowers is to look at the USDA zone info for Roanoke.

Planting Calendar for Sunflowers

Frost tolerance for sunflowers:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After the last frost when the weather gets warmer.

It's not a good idea to plant sunflowers until after all chance of frost has passed because they are not cold tolerant.

The earliest that you can plant sunflowers in Roanoke 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. Starting your sunflowers indoors is a great way to get them started a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

In Roanoke the average date of last frost happens on April 15. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of 5°F.

Remember that the actual date of last frost is not always accurate because it is based on the USDA zone info for Roanoke and it is different every year. Since half of the time in Roanoke last frost occurs after April 15 be ready to protect your sunflowers in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Roanoke

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 Low	5°F
Highest Expected Low	10°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 Roanoke

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