One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us figure out 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.

In Riverdale you can estimate when to plant lavender cotton by reviewing the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Lavender Cotton

Frost tolerance for lavender cotton:	Very tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	Up to 7 weeks before last frost.

You can plant lavender cotton quite a bit earlier in the year because they do well in cold.

The earliest that you can plant lavender cotton in Riverdale 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 lavender cotton and expect a good harvest is probably September. If you wait any later than that and your lavender cotton may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your lavender cotton indoors.

Last Frost Date

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

Keep in mind that USDA zone info for Riverdale is an average and the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Riverdale last frost occurs after March 15 so make sure that you are prepared to protect your lavender cotton if you have 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.