One of the first steps you take when you are determining 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 Tuscaloosa you can figure out when it's a good idea to plant bachelor buttons by referring to the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Bachelor Buttons

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

Bachelor Buttons do well in moderate cold which means that you can start planting them earlier than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant bachelor buttons in Tuscaloosa 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 bachelor buttons and expect a good harvest is probably September. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your bachelor buttons may not have a chance to grow to maturity. If you are starting your bachelor buttons indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

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

It's important to remember that the actual date of last frost is just an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Tuscaloosa and it will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in Tuscaloosa it frosts late in the year after March 15 be ready to protect your bachelor buttons in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Tuscaloosa

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 Tuscaloosa

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