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.

In Alabaster you can determine when it's a good idea to plant hardy hibiscus by referring to the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Hardy Hibiscus

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

Hardy Hibiscus are one of those plants that can tolerate quite a bit of cold weather which means that you can plant them a quite a bit earlier than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant hardy hibiscus in Alabaster 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 hardy hibiscus and expect a good harvest is probably September. Any later than that and your hardy hibiscus may not have a chance to grow to maturity. If you are starting your hardy hibiscus indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

In Alabaster 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.

Remember that USDA zone info for Alabaster is just an average and the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Alabaster there is a last frost after March 15 be ready to protect your hardy hibiscus if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Alabaster

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 Alabaster

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