One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us determine your gardening schedule is the USDA zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

A common way of figuring out when you can plant coleus is to examine the USDA zone info for Riverdale.

Planting Calendar for Coleus

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

Coleus are not cold tolerant which means that you have to wait until it warms up after all chance of frost has passed before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant coleus in Riverdale 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 coleus and expect a good harvest is probably August. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your coleus may not have a chance to fully mature. If you are starting your coleus indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

In Riverdale the average date of last frost happens on March 15. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of 10°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Riverdale is not always accurate the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in Riverdale it frosts late in the year after March 15 be ready to cover your coleus in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Riverdale

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 Riverdale

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