The USDA Zone info is a great tool for gardeners to help us determine your gardening schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

In Melbourne you can figure out when it's possible to plant lupine by referring to the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Lupine

Frost tolerance for lupine:	Tolerant of some frost.
When to plant:	Up to 5 weeks before last frost.

Since lupine are one of those plants that can tolerate a little bit of cold weather you can plant them a bit earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant lupine 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 lupine and expect a good harvest is probably October. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your lupine may not have a chance to grow to maturity. If you are starting your lupine indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost when the weather gets warmer is on February 15 in Melbourne. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of 25°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Melbourne is an average the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Melbourne there is a last frost after February 15 be ready to cover your lupine in the event of a 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.