When to Plant Four-o-clock flower in Zone 6a

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

One way of figuring out when it's possible to plant four-o-clock flower is to use the USDA zone info for Zone 6a.


Planting Calendar for Four-o-clock flower

Frost tolerance for four-o-clock flower: Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant: After the last frost.

Four-o-clock flower are not cold tolerant which tells us that it's important to wait until it warms up after the last frost before you can plant them.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Legend 
A good time to plant four-o-clock flower
Possibly ok, but a risky time to plant four-o-clock flower
Probably not a good time to plant four-o-clock flower

The earliest that you can plant four-o-clock flower in Zone 6a is April. However, you really should wait until May if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant four-o-clock flower and expect a good harvest is probably August. Any later than that and your four-o-clock flower may not have a chance to grow to maturity. Starting your four-o-clock flower indoors is a great way to get them started a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost has passed is on April 15 in Zone 6a. You should expect an average low temperature of -10°F in the coldest months of winter.

Remember that the actual date of last frost is not always accurate because it is based on the USDA zone info for Zone 6a and it can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Zone 6a you get a frost after April 15 be ready to protect your four-o-clock flower in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Zone 6a

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 Zone 6a

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Zone 6a.