One of the first steps you take when you are making a decision about 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.

The USDA zone info for Zone 3a can be reffered to in order to determine when to plant common hollyhock.

Planting Calendar for Common hollyhock

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

You can plant common hollyhock a little earlier in the year because they are one of those plants that can tolerate a little bit of cold weather.

The earliest that you can plant common hollyhock in Zone 3a 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. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your common hollyhock may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your common hollyhock indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is May 15 in Zone 3a. It might get as low as -40°F during the coldest months of winter.

Remember that the actual date of last frost is an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Zone 3a and it can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Zone 3a it frosts late in the year after May 15 so make sure that you are ready to protect your common hollyhock in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Zone 3a

Here is the info for USDA Zone 3a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	May 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	September 15
Lowest Expected Low	-40°F
Highest Expected Low	-35°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -40°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -35°F.

Plants to Grow in Zone 3a

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Zone 3a.