One of the first steps you take when you are making a decision about your gardening schedule is find your USDA Zone info. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

A way of getting a good idea when it's a good idea to plant flower-of-an-hour is to check out the USDA zone info for Melbourne.

Planting Calendar for Flower-of-an-Hour

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

Flower-of-an-Hour do well in a tiny bit of cold which means that you can plant them slightly earlier in the year than other plants that might not handle the cold.

The earliest that you can plant flower-of-an-hour in Melbourne is February. However, you really should wait until March if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant flower-of-an-hour and expect a good harvest is probably September. If you wait any later than that and your flower-of-an-hour may not have a chance to grow to maturity. If you are starting your flower-of-an-hour indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

In Melbourne the average date of last frost happens on February 15. It might get as low as 25°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Melbourne may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Melbourne last frost occurs after February 15 be ready to protect your flower-of-an-hour if you have 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.