When to plant snapdragons

When to plant snapdragons by USDA zone

Dates are worked out from each zone’s typical last frost, using the number of weeks the cited extension services give. Find your zone on the zone map. Zones 11 and above are frost-free, so timing there depends on heat and rain instead.

Rule used: plant out from the last frost date; earlier once hardened off; start seed indoors 8 weeks before the last frost.

When to plant snapdragons in your state

Same rule, applied to each state’s typical last spring frost. States marked * span very different climates, so use your own frost date for the exact day - click a state for its frost dates.

What extension services say

• Start snapdragon seed indoors 8 weeks before the average frost-free date (6 weeks in a cold frame). Colorado State University Extension ↗
• Minnesota puts snapdragon in early March, 10-11 weeks indoors. University of Minnesota Extension ↗
• Missouri also says early March, that the seed needs light, and to grow it cool. University of Missouri Extension ↗
• Frost-tolerant annuals such as snapdragon, alyssum and dianthus can be planted earlier than other annuals if they are hardened off first. University of Missouri Extension ↗
• Texas A&M lists snapdragon among the annuals planted in the fall for spring flowers; fall-planted annuals are generally set out when temperatures begin to cool off in late September-October. Texas A&M AgriLife (Earth-Kind Landscaping) ↗
• Cool-season flowers such as snapdragons grow best in mild temperatures and slow or stop flowering in high summer temperatures. In colder climates snapdragons are tender perennials often grown as annuals. NC State Extension ↗

Extension sources give no exact number of weeks before the last frost for planting snapdragons out, so the table starts at the last frost date and flags that hardened-off plants can go earlier.

Questions gardeners ask

Sources

• University of Missouri Extension: Starting Plants Indoors From Seeds (G6570)
• Colorado State University Extension: Growing Annual Plants from Seed
• University of Minnesota Extension: Starting seeds indoors
• University of Missouri Extension: Herbaceous Ornamentals (MG9)
• Texas A&M AgriLife (Earth-Kind Landscaping): Seasonal Color...Care and Management
• NC State Extension: Extension Gardener Handbook: Herbaceous Ornamentals

Extension advice is local to the state that wrote it. Where the sources differ, both are shown. Dates in the tables are estimates from typical frost dates; your garden’s own last frost can differ by a week or more. How we source data.