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

The USDA zone info for North Port can be reffered to in order to determine when it's a good idea to plant heliotrope.

Planting Calendar for Heliotrope

Frost tolerance for heliotrope:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After the last frost.

You should not plant heliotrope until after the last frost when the weather gets warmer because they do not do well in cold weather.

The earliest that you can plant heliotrope in North Port is March. However, you really should wait until April if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant heliotrope and expect a good harvest is probably September. Any later than that and your heliotrope may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your heliotrope indoors.

Last Frost Date

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

Remember that USDA zone info for North Port is just an average and the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Since half of the time in North Port there is a last frost after February 15 be ready to protect your heliotrope if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for North Port

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 North Port

You may be interested in your other planting guides for North Port.