One of the first steps you take when you are figuring out 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.

One way of estimating when to plant digitalis is to use the USDA zone info for Bessemer.

Planting Calendar for Digitalis

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

You can plant digitalis just a bit earlier in the year because they are one of those plants that can tolerate a little bit of cold weather.

The earliest that you can plant digitalis in Bessemer 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 digitalis and expect a good harvest is probably September. If you wait any later than that and your digitalis may not have a chance to grow to maturity. If you are starting your digitalis indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

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

Keep in mind that USDA zone info for Bessemer is just an average and the actual date of last frost is different every year. Since half of the time in Bessemer it frosts late in the year after March 15 be ready to cover your digitalis in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Bessemer

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 Bessemer

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