One of the first steps you take when you are determining 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.

In Jefferson you can determine when it's possible to plant osteospermum by referring to the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Osteospermum

Frost tolerance for osteospermum:	Tolerant of some frost.
When to plant:	Up to 5 weeks before last frost.

You can plant osteospermum a little bit earlier in the year because they are moderately cold tolerant.

The earliest that you can plant osteospermum in Jefferson is February. However, you really should wait until March if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant osteospermum and expect a good harvest is probably September. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your osteospermum may not have a chance to grow to maturity. Starting your osteospermum indoors is a great way to get them started a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is March 15 in Jefferson. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of 10°F.

Keep in mind that the actual date of last frost is just an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Jefferson and it can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Jefferson there is a last frost after March 15 so make sure that you are prepared to protect your osteospermum if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Jefferson

Here is the info for USDA Zone 8a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	March 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	November 15
Lowest Expected Low	10°F
Highest Expected Low	15°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 15°F.

Plants to Grow in Jefferson

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