Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to figure out 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 making a decision about when it's the best time to plant red hot pokers is to examine the USDA zone info for Zone 4a.

Planting Calendar for Red Hot Pokers

Frost tolerance for red hot pokers:	Very tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	Up to 7 weeks before last frost.

Red Hot Pokers do ok in quite a bit of cold which tells us that you can plant them much earlier in the year than more sensitive plants.

The earliest that you can plant red hot pokers in Zone 4a 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 red hot pokers and expect a good harvest is probably August. Any later than that and your red hot pokers may not have a chance to grow to maturity. If you are starting your red hot pokers indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost when the weather gets warmer is on May 15 in Zone 4a. You can expect an average low temperature of -30°F in the coldest months of winter.

Just be sure to remember that the actual date of last frost is just an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Zone 4a and it changes from year to year. Half of the time in Zone 4a you get surprised by a frost after May 15 so be sure to be ready to protect your red hot pokers in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Zone 4a

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 Zone 4a

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Zone 4a.