Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to determine your garden schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

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

Planting Calendar for Thyme

Frost tolerance for thyme:	Very tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	Up to 7 weeks before last frost.

Thyme do well in cold weather which means that you can plant them much earlier in the year than more sensitive plants.

The earliest that you can plant thyme in Benton 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 thyme and expect a good harvest is probably September. Any later than that and your thyme may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your thyme indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Benton. It might get as low as 5°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Benton is an average the actual date of last frost is different every year. Since half of the time in Benton it frosts late in the year after April 15 be ready to cover your thyme if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Benton

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 Benton

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