One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us determine your gardening schedule is the 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.

The USDA zone info for Taft can be used to estimate when to plant stevia.

Planting Calendar for Stevia

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

Since stevia are not cold tolerant it's necessary to wait until after the last frost has passed before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant stevia in Taft 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 stevia and expect a good harvest is probably September. Any later than that and your stevia may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your stevia indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average all chance of frost has passed is on February 15 in Taft. You can expect an average low temperature of 25°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Taft is an average the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in Taft last frost occurs after February 15 be ready to protect your stevia in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Taft

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 Low	25°F
Highest Expected Low	30°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 Taft

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