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

One way of figuring out when you can plant pincushion flower is to check out the USDA zone info for Merrill.

Planting Calendar for Pincushion Flower

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

Pincushion Flower are one of those plants that can tolerate a little bit of cold weather which tells us that you can get them planted earlier than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant pincushion flower in Merrill is March. However, you really should wait until April if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant pincushion flower and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your pincushion flower may not have a chance to really do well. If you are starting your pincushion flower 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 May 15 in Merrill. You should expect an average low temperature of -30°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Merrill is an average the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Merrill it frosts late in the year after May 15 so always be ready to cover your pincushion flower in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Merrill

Here is the info for USDA Zone 4a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	May 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	September 15
Lowest Expected Low	-30°F
Highest Expected Low	-25°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -30°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -25°F.

Plants to Grow in Merrill

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