One of the first steps you take when you are determining your gardening schedule is find your USDA Zone info. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

One way of determining when it's the best time to plant calliopsis is to use the USDA zone info for Alamosa.

Planting Calendar for Calliopsis

Frost tolerance for calliopsis:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After all chance of frost has passed.

It's a bad idea to plant calliopsis until after the last frost because they do not do well in cold weather.

The earliest that you can plant calliopsis in Alamosa is May. However, you really should wait until June if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant calliopsis and expect a good harvest is probably August. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your calliopsis may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your calliopsis indoors.

Last Frost Date

In Alamosa the average date of last frost happens on May 15. It might get as low as -25°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Alamosa may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Alamosa there is a last frost after May 15 so make sure that you are ready to cover your calliopsis in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Alamosa

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 Alamosa

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Alamosa.