One of the first steps you take when you are getting a good idea 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.

By looking at the USDA zone info for Gainesville you should be able to estimate when you can plant lovage.

Planting Calendar for Lovage

Frost tolerance for lovage:	Tolerant of a very small amount of frost.
When to plant:	Up to 3 weeks before last frost.

Lovage are one of those plants that can tolerate a tiny bit of cold weather which means that you can get them planted just a bit earlier than other frost tender plants.

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

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is February 15 in Gainesville. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of 20°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Gainesville is just an average the actual date of last frost is different every year. Half of the time in Gainesville last frost occurs after February 15 so just be sure to be ready to protect your lovage if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Gainesville

Here is the info for USDA Zone 9a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	February 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	December 15
Lowest Expected Low	20°F
Highest Expected Low	25°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 20°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 25°F.

Plants to Grow in Gainesville

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