One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us figure out your gardening schedule is the USDA zone info. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

A way of figuring out when it's a good idea to plant decorative kale is to use the USDA zone info for Piedmont.

Planting Calendar for Decorative Kale

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

Decorative Kale do well in moderate cold which means that 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 decorative kale in Piedmont 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 decorative kale and expect a good harvest is probably September. If you wait any later than that and your decorative kale may not have a chance to grow to maturity. If you are starting your decorative kale indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost is on April 15 in Piedmont. It might get as low as 5°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Piedmont is an average the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in Piedmont it frosts late in the year after April 15 be ready to cover your decorative kale if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Piedmont

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 Piedmont

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