When to Plant Lavender in Tucson, AZ

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.

One way of figuring out when it's a good idea to plant lavender is to refer to the USDA zone info for Tucson.


Planting Calendar for Lavender

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

Lavender can survive in mild cold which tells us that you can plant them a bit earlier in the year than more sensitive plants.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Legend 
A good time to plant lavender
Possibly ok, but a risky time to plant lavender
Probably not a good time to plant lavender

The earliest that you can plant lavender in Tucson is January. However, you really should wait until February if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant lavender and expect a good harvest is probably October. If you wait any later than that and your lavender may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your lavender indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost when the weather gets warmer is on February 15 in Tucson. You should expect an average low temperature of 25°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Tucson is not always accurate the actual date of last frost is different every year. Since half of the time in Tucson it frosts late in the year after February 15 be ready to cover your lavender in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Tucson

Here is the info for USDA Zone 9b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)February 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)December 15
Lowest Expected Low25°F
Highest Expected Low30°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 25°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 30°F.

Plants to Grow in Tucson

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