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.

One way of making a decision about when it's a good idea to plant erysimum is to refer to the USDA zone info for Washington.

Planting Calendar for Erysimum

Frost tolerance for erysimum:	Tolerant of some frost.
When to plant:	Up to 5 weeks before last frost.

You can plant erysimum just a bit earlier in the year because they are moderately cold tolerant.

The earliest that you can plant erysimum in Washington 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 erysimum and expect a good harvest is probably September. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your erysimum may not have a chance to really do well. Starting your erysimum indoors is a great way to get them started a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

In Washington the average date of last frost happens on April 15. You can expect an average low temperature of 0°F in the coldest months of winter.

Remember that USDA zone info for Washington is an average and the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Washington you get a frost after April 15 be ready to protect your erysimum in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Washington

Here is the info for USDA Zone 7a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	0°F
Highest Expected Low	5°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 0°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 5°F.

Plants to Grow in Washington

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