One of the first steps you take when you are figuring out your gardening schedule is find your 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.

In Fort Smith you can figure out when it's possible to plant hardy hibiscus by using the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Hardy Hibiscus

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

Hardy Hibiscus do well in cold which means that you can plant them much earlier than more sensitive plants.

The earliest that you can plant hardy hibiscus in Fort Smith 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 hardy hibiscus and expect a good harvest is probably September. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your hardy hibiscus may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your hardy hibiscus indoors.

Last Frost Date

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

Since the USDA zone info for Fort Smith is not always accurate the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Fort Smith it frosts late in the year after April 15 so make sure that you are prepared to cover your hardy hibiscus in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Fort Smith

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 Fort Smith

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Fort Smith.