One of the first steps you take when you are figuring out your gardening schedule is find your USDA Zone info. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

A common way of making a decision about when it's a good idea to plant common hollyhock is to look at the USDA zone info for Buffalo.

Planting Calendar for Common hollyhock

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

Common hollyhock tend to make it in a little bit of cold which means that you can plant them a little earlier in the year than other plants that might not handle the cold.

The earliest that you can plant common hollyhock in Buffalo 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 common hollyhock and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your common hollyhock may not have a chance to really do well. Starting your common hollyhock indoors is a great way to get them started a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is May 15 in Buffalo. You can expect an average low temperature of -25°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Buffalo is just an average the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in Buffalo there is a last frost after May 15 be ready to cover your common hollyhock if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Buffalo

Here is the info for USDA Zone 4b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	May 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	September 15
Lowest Expected Low	-25°F
Highest Expected Low	-20°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -25°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -20°F.

Plants to Grow in Buffalo

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