One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us determine 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 Live Oak should be used to figure out when to plant cosmos.

Planting Calendar for Cosmos

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

Cosmos do well in some cold which means that you can plant them a bit earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant cosmos in Live Oak 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 cosmos and expect a good harvest is probably August. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your cosmos may not have a chance to really do well. If you are starting your cosmos indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is March 15 in Live Oak. You can expect an average low temperature of 15°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Live Oak is not always accurate the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Live Oak you get surprised by a frost after March 15 so make sure that you are prepared to protect your cosmos if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Live Oak

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 Live Oak

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Live Oak.