When to Plant Sunflowers in Lake Stevens, WA

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

By using the USDA zone info for Lake Stevens it's a good idea to determine when it's a good idea to plant sunflowers.


Planting Calendar for Sunflowers

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

Since sunflowers do not do well in cold weather it is necessary to wait until after all chance of frost has passed before you can plant them.

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

The earliest that you can plant sunflowers in Lake Stevens 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 really do well. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your sunflowers indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is March 15 in Lake Stevens. You can expect an average low temperature of 15°F in the coldest months of winter.

It's important to remember that USDA zone info for Lake Stevens is an average and the actual date of last frost is different every year. Half of the time in Lake Stevens you get a frost after March 15 so just be sure to be ready to protect your sunflowers in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Lake Stevens

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 Low15°F
Highest Expected Low20°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 Lake Stevens

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Lake Stevens.