When to Plant Tropical Hibiscus in Lake Wales, FL

Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to estimate your garden schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

One way of estimating when it's the best time to plant tropical hibiscus is to use the USDA zone info for Lake Wales.


Planting Calendar for Tropical Hibiscus

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

Since tropical hibiscus require warm weather you must wait until after the last frost when the weather gets warmer before you can plant them.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Legend 
A good time to plant tropical hibiscus
Possibly ok, but a risky time to plant tropical hibiscus
Probably not a good time to plant tropical hibiscus

The earliest that you can plant tropical hibiscus in Lake Wales is March. However, you really should wait until April 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. If you wait any later than that and your tropical hibiscus may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your tropical hibiscus indoors.

Last Frost Date

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

Since the USDA zone info for Lake Wales may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Lake Wales last frost occurs after February 15 so make sure that you are ready to protect your tropical hibiscus in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Lake Wales

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 Low25°F
Highest Expected Low30°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 Wales

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