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.

It's possible to determine when you can plant sunflowers by reviewing the USDA zone info for Mount Vernon.

Planting Calendar for Sunflowers

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

You really shouldn't plant sunflowers until after the last frost when the weather gets warmer because they require warm weather.

The earliest that you can plant sunflowers in Mount Vernon 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. Any later than that and your sunflowers may not have a chance to really do well. If you are starting your sunflowers indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is March 15 in Mount Vernon. You can expect an average low temperature of 10°F in the coldest months of winter.

Always keep in mind that USDA zone info for Mount Vernon is just an average and the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Mount Vernon there is a last frost after March 15 be ready to protect your sunflowers in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Mount Vernon

Here is the info for USDA Zone 8a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	March 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	November 15
Lowest Expected Low	10°F
Highest Expected Low	15°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 10°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 15°F.

Plants to Grow in Mount Vernon

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Mount Vernon.