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.

The USDA zone info for Willows should be used to determine when it's a good idea to plant schizanthus.

Planting Calendar for Schizanthus

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

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

The earliest that you can plant schizanthus in Willows 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 schizanthus and expect a good harvest is probably September. If you wait any later than that and your schizanthus may not have a chance to really do well. If you are starting your schizanthus indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

In Willows the average date of last frost happens on February 15. You can expect an average low temperature of 25°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Willows is just an average the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Willows you get surprised by a frost after February 15 so be sure to be ready to protect your schizanthus if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Willows

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 Willows

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