One of the first steps you take when you are estimating 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.

In Calera you can estimate when it's the best time to plant cosmos by looking at the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Cosmos

Frost tolerance for cosmos:	Tolerant of a very small amount of frost.
When to plant:	Up to 3 weeks before last frost.

Cosmos do well in some cold which means that you can plant them a bit earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant cosmos in Calera is March. However, you really should wait until April if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant cosmos and expect a good harvest is probably August. Any later than that and your cosmos may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your cosmos indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is March 15 in Calera. It might get as low as 10°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Calera is an average the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in Calera you get surprised by a frost after March 15 be ready to protect your cosmos in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Calera

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 Calera

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