One of the first steps you take when you are getting a good idea 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.

A common way of making a decision about when it's possible to plant creeping phlox is to look at the USDA zone info for Zone 4b.

Planting Calendar for Creeping Phlox

Frost tolerance for creeping phlox:	Very tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	Up to 7 weeks before last frost.

Since creeping phlox are very cold tolerant you can plant them much earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant creeping phlox in Zone 4b 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 creeping phlox and expect a good harvest is probably August. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your creeping phlox may not have a chance to grow to maturity. If you are starting your creeping phlox indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is May 15 in Zone 4b. You should expect an average low temperature of -25°F in the coldest months of winter.

It's important to remember that USDA zone info for Zone 4b is just an average and the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Zone 4b it frosts late in the year after May 15 so always be ready to protect your creeping phlox if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Zone 4b

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 Zone 4b

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