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.

You will be able to determine when it's a good idea to plant dracaena by checking out the USDA zone info for Charleston.

Planting Calendar for Dracaena

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

Dracaena are one of those plants that can tolerate quite a bit of cold weather which means that you can start planting them much earlier than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

The earliest that you can plant dracaena in Charleston 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 dracaena and expect a good harvest is probably September. Any later than that and your dracaena may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your dracaena indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost when the weather gets warmer is on April 15 in Charleston. It might get as low as -10°F during the coldest months of winter.

Keep in mind that USDA zone info for Charleston is not always accurate and the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Charleston last frost occurs after April 15 so always be ready to cover your dracaena if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Charleston

Here is the info for USDA Zone 6a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-10°F
Highest Expected Low	-5°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 -5°F.

Plants to Grow in Charleston

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