One of the first steps you take when you are figuring out your gardening schedule is find your USDA Zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

By looking at the USDA zone info for Beckley it's a good idea to determine when it's a good idea to plant delphinium.

Planting Calendar for Delphinium

Frost tolerance for delphinium:	Tolerant of a very small amount of frost.
When to plant:	Up to 3 weeks before last frost.

Delphinium do ok in moderate cold which tells us that you can plant them slightly earlier than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant delphinium in Beckley 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 delphinium and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your delphinium may not have a chance to grow to maturity. If you are starting your delphinium indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost has passed is on April 15 in Beckley. You should expect an average low temperature of -10°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Beckley is an average the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Beckley there is a last frost after April 15 be ready to cover your delphinium in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Beckley

Here is the info for USDA Zone 6a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-10°F
Highest Expected Low	-5°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 -5°F.

Plants to Grow in Beckley

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