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.

A common way of determining when to plant alternanthera is to look at the USDA zone info for Cottonwood.

Planting Calendar for Alternanthera

Frost tolerance for alternanthera:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After all chance of frost has passed.

You should not plant alternanthera until after the last frost because they are not cold tolerant.

The earliest that you can plant alternanthera in Cottonwood 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 alternanthera and expect a good harvest is probably August. Any later than that and your alternanthera may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your alternanthera indoors.

Last Frost Date

In Cottonwood the average date of last frost happens on March 15. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of 15°F.

It's important to remember that USDA zone info for Cottonwood is an average and the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in Cottonwood you get surprised by a frost after March 15 be ready to protect your alternanthera if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Cottonwood

Here is the info for USDA Zone 8b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	March 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	November 15
Lowest Expected Low	15°F
Highest Expected Low	20°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 15°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 20°F.

Plants to Grow in Cottonwood

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