One of the first steps you take when you are making a decision about 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.

It's a good idea to figure out when to plant osteospermum by using the USDA zone info for Chapel Hill.

Planting Calendar for Osteospermum

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

Since osteospermum are moderately cold tolerant you can plant them a little earlier in the year than other plants that might not handle the cold.

The earliest that you can plant osteospermum in Chapel Hill 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. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your osteospermum indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Chapel Hill. It might get as low as 5°F during the coldest months of winter.

Keep in mind that USDA zone info for Chapel Hill is just an average and the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Chapel Hill there is a last frost after April 15 so always be ready to cover your osteospermum in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Chapel Hill

Here is the info for USDA Zone 7b.

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

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 5°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 10°F.

Plants to Grow in Chapel Hill

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Chapel Hill.