The USDA Zone info is a great tool for gardeners to help us estimate your gardening schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

One way of estimating when it's a good idea to plant dipladenia is to examine the USDA zone info for Richmond.

Planting Calendar for Dipladenia

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

Dipladenia are not cold tolerant which tells us that it's important to wait until it warms up after the last frost has passed before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant dipladenia in Richmond 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 dipladenia and expect a good harvest is probably September. If you wait any later than that and your dipladenia may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your dipladenia indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is January 31 in Richmond. It might get as low as 30°F during the coldest months of winter.

Remember that USDA zone info for Richmond is an average and the actual date of last frost is different every year. Half of the time in Richmond it frosts late in the year after January 31 so make sure that you are prepared to cover your dipladenia in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Richmond

Here is the info for USDA Zone 10a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	January 31
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	December 15
Lowest Expected Low	30°F
Highest Expected Low	35°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 30°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 35°F.

Plants to Grow in Richmond

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