One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us estimate your gardening schedule is the 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 Lake City can be used to estimate when to plant heliotrope.

Planting Calendar for Heliotrope

Frost tolerance for heliotrope:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After the last frost.

It's not a good idea to plant heliotrope until after all chance of frost has passed because they are not cold tolerant.

The earliest that you can plant heliotrope in Lake City 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 heliotrope and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your heliotrope may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your heliotrope indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is March 15 in Lake City. You should expect an average low temperature of 15°F in the coldest months of winter.

Remember that USDA zone info for Lake City is an average and the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Lake City last frost occurs after March 15 so make sure that you are ready to protect your heliotrope if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Lake City

Here is the info for USDA Zone 8b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	March 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	November 15
Lowest Expected Low	15°F
Highest Expected Low	20°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 20°F.

Plants to Grow in Lake City

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Lake City.