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.

The earliest that you can plant tropical hibiscus in Clay can be estimated by referring to the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Tropical Hibiscus

Frost tolerance for tropical hibiscus:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After the last frost has passed.

It's a bad idea to plant tropical hibiscus until after all chance of frost has passed because they require warm weather.

The earliest that you can plant tropical hibiscus in Clay is April. However, you really should wait until May if you don't want to take any chances.

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

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Clay. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of 5°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Clay is an average the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Clay you get a frost after April 15 so just be sure to be ready to protect your tropical hibiscus in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Clay

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 Clay

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