One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us estimate 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.

In South Boston you can determine when it's the best time to plant hollyhocks by referring to the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Hollyhocks

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

Hollyhocks do ok in mild cold which means that you can plant them just a bit earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant hollyhocks in South Boston 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 hollyhocks and expect a good harvest is probably September. If you wait any later than that and your hollyhocks may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your hollyhocks indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost has passed is on April 15 in South Boston. You should expect an average low temperature of 5°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for South Boston is just an average the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in South Boston there is a last frost after April 15 so make sure that you are ready to cover your hollyhocks in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for South Boston

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 South Boston

You may be interested in your other planting guides for South Boston.