Candytuft · Kunming, Yunnan, China
When to sow candytufts in Kunming
Main outdoor window
17 Jan - 7 Feb
The window this page is built around.
Timed from last spring frost
7 February
In Kunming, on your chosen risk.
Ready to pick
13 Mar - 2 Apr
If you plant at the start of the window.
The average last frost. Half of all years are later than this.
Step by step in Kunming
Each window is a range, not a single day. Earlier in the range buys you a longer season; later in it buys you a safer one.
Sow direct
17 Jan - 7 Feb
Three weeks before your last frost.
In flower
13 Mar - 2 Apr
Candytufts through the year
Against the frost risk in Kunming
Why these dates
Sow direct three weeks before the last frost where it is to flower. It has a short season, roughly five weeks, so sow in succession every three weeks for a continuous show. Cut back hard after flowering and a second flush sometimes follows.
Hardy to about -10C, so it can be autumn-sown in zone 7 and milder for late spring flowers. Finishes quickly once the weather turns hot.
Seed packets and extension guides express timing as weeks either side of the last spring frost, because that is the only reference point that travels. Candytufts are timed for direct sowing 3 weeks before it, and this page simply resolves those offsets against the frost date computed for Kunming.
Hardiness is not the obstacle here. Kunming is zone 9b, comfortably inside the range this crop is rated for, so an established plant should come through an average winter without protection.
The median frost-free season here is 312 days, against 55 to 75 days to first flower for this crop counted from sowing. That margin is what decides whether a late sowing is worth attempting.
Also in Kunming
Other flowers to time
Growing candytufts in Kunming
When should I plant candytufts in Kunming?
Aim for 17 Jan - 7 Feb in an average year. If you would rather not gamble on the weather, wait until 9 Feb - 2 Mar - by then frost has finished in nine years out of ten.
When will candytufts be ready to harvest in Kunming?
Expect to start picking around 13 Mar - 2 Apr, based on 55 to 75 days to maturity from the planting date calculated for this location.
How much frost will candytufts tolerate?
Hardy to about -10C, so it can be autumn-sown in zone 7 and milder for late spring flowers. Finishes quickly once the weather turns hot.