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

A way of making a decision about when it's the best time to plant ruby grass is to look at the USDA zone info for Melbourne.

Planting Calendar for Ruby Grass

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

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

The earliest that you can plant ruby grass 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 ruby grass and expect a good harvest is probably September. Any later than that and your ruby grass may not have a chance to grow to maturity. Starting your ruby grass indoors is a great way to get them started a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

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

Just be sure to remember that USDA zone info for Melbourne is not always accurate and the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Melbourne you get a frost after February 15 so just be sure to be ready to protect your ruby grass 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.