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 common way of estimating when it's possible to plant arctotis is to consult the USDA zone info for Lake Mary.

Planting Calendar for Arctotis

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

Arctotis are one of those plants that can tolerate a little bit of cold weather which means that you can get them planted earlier than more sensitive plants.

The earliest that you can plant arctotis in Lake Mary is January. However, you really should wait until February if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant arctotis and expect a good harvest is probably October. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your arctotis may not have a chance to fully mature. Starting your arctotis indoors is a great way to get them started a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is February 15 in Lake Mary. It might get as low as 25°F during the coldest months of winter.

Just be sure to remember that the actual date of last frost is an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Lake Mary and it changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Lake Mary you get surprised by a frost after February 15 be ready to cover your arctotis if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Lake Mary

Here is the info for USDA Zone 9b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	February 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	December 15
Lowest Expected Low	25°F
Highest Expected Low	30°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 25°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 30°F.

Plants to Grow in Lake Mary

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