One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us figure out 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.

By checking out the USDA zone info for Melbourne you will be able to figure out when to plant hardy hibiscus.

Planting Calendar for Hardy Hibiscus

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

Hardy Hibiscus tend to make it in quite a bit of cold which means that you can plant them earlier in the year than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

The earliest that you can plant hardy hibiscus 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 hardy hibiscus and expect a good harvest is probably October. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your hardy hibiscus may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your hardy hibiscus indoors.

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 is just an average the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Melbourne there is a last frost after February 15 so make sure that you are prepared to protect your hardy hibiscus if you have a surprise late frost.

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.