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 USDA zone info for Yakima can be reviewed to figure out when it's the best time to plant zinnia.

Planting Calendar for Zinnia

Frost tolerance for zinnia:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After the last frost has passed.

Since zinnia are not cold tolerant it is necessary to wait until after the last frost before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant zinnia in Yakima 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 zinnia and expect a good harvest is probably August. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your zinnia may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your zinnia indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average all chance of frost has passed is on April 15 in Yakima. It might get as low as -5°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Yakima is an average the actual date of last frost is different every year. Since half of the time in Yakima you get surprised by a frost after April 15 be ready to protect your zinnia in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Yakima

Here is the info for USDA Zone 6b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-5°F
Highest Expected Low	0°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 0°F.

Plants to Grow in Yakima

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