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.

One way of figuring out when it's a good idea to plant zinnia is to look at the USDA zone info for Waterford.

Planting Calendar for Zinnia

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

It's not a good idea to plant zinnia until after all chance of frost has passed because they require warm weather.

The earliest that you can plant zinnia in Waterford 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. Any later than that and your zinnia may not have a chance to fully mature. If you are starting your zinnia indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

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

Since the USDA zone info for Waterford may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Waterford you get a frost after April 15 be ready to protect your zinnia if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Waterford

Here is the info for USDA Zone 5b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-15°F
Highest Expected Low	-10°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 -10°F.

Plants to Grow in Waterford

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