One of the first steps you take when you are figuring out 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.

The USDA zone info for Madera can be reffered to in order to figure out when it's a good idea to plant heliotrope.

Planting Calendar for Heliotrope

Frost tolerance for heliotrope:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After the last frost.

You should not plant heliotrope until after the last frost has passed because they are not cold tolerant.

The earliest that you can plant heliotrope in Madera is March. However, you really should wait until April if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant heliotrope and expect a good harvest is probably September. Any later than that and your heliotrope may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your heliotrope indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost is on February 15 in Madera. You should expect an average low temperature of 20°F in the coldest months of winter.

Keep in mind that the actual date of last frost is just an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Madera and it is different every year. Since half of the time in Madera it frosts late in the year after February 15 be ready to cover your heliotrope if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Madera

Here is the info for USDA Zone 9a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	February 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	December 15
Lowest Expected Low	20°F
Highest Expected Low	25°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 20°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 25°F.

Plants to Grow in Madera

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