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

A common way of determining when it's a good idea to plant anchusa is to look at the USDA zone info for Melbourne.

Planting Calendar for Anchusa

Frost tolerance for anchusa:	Very tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	Up to 7 weeks before last frost.

Since anchusa are very cold tolerant you can plant them much earlier in the year than more sensitive plants.

The earliest that you can plant anchusa in Melbourne 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 anchusa and expect a good harvest is probably October. Any later than that and your anchusa may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your anchusa indoors.

Last Frost Date

In Melbourne the average date of last frost happens on February 15. You can expect an average low temperature of 25°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Melbourne is an average the actual date of last frost is different every year. Since half of the time in Melbourne it frosts late in the year after February 15 be ready to cover your anchusa in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Melbourne

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 Melbourne

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