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.

A way of figuring out when you can plant tropical hibiscus is to look at the USDA zone info for Fort Lauderdale.

Planting Calendar for Tropical Hibiscus

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

Since tropical hibiscus do not do well in cold weather you need to wait until after the last frost has passed before you can plant them.

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

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost when the weather gets warmer is on January 31 in Fort Lauderdale. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of 35°F.

Keep in mind that USDA zone info for Fort Lauderdale is an average and the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Fort Lauderdale last frost occurs after January 31 so make sure that you are ready to protect your tropical hibiscus in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Fort Lauderdale

Here is the info for USDA Zone 10b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	January 31
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	December 15
Lowest Expected Low	35°F
Highest Expected Low	40°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 35°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 40°F.

Plants to Grow in Fort Lauderdale

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Fort Lauderdale.