One of the first steps you take when you are making a decision about 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.

A common way of estimating when it's possible to plant hibiscus is to check out the USDA zone info for Rifle.

Planting Calendar for Hibiscus

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

You should not plant hibiscus until after the last frost because they are not cold tolerant.

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

The last month that you can plant hibiscus and expect a good harvest is probably August. Any later than that and your hibiscus may not have a chance to fully mature. If you are starting your hibiscus indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

In Rifle the average date of last frost happens on April 15. You can expect an average low temperature of -15°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Rifle is not always accurate the actual date of last frost is different every year. Since half of the time in Rifle you get a frost after April 15 be ready to protect your hibiscus in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Rifle

Here is the info for USDA Zone 5b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-15°F
Highest Expected Low	-10°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -15°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -10°F.

Plants to Grow in Rifle

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