One of the first steps you take when you are making a decision about your gardening schedule is find your USDA Zone info. 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 to plant arctotis is to consult the USDA zone info for Orlando.

Planting Calendar for Arctotis

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

Since arctotis do well in moderate cold you can plant them just a bit earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant arctotis in Orlando 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 arctotis and expect a good harvest is probably October. If you wait any later than that and your arctotis may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your arctotis indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is February 15 in Orlando. It might get as low as 25°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Orlando is not always accurate the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Orlando you get a frost after February 15 so always be ready to protect your arctotis in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Orlando

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 Orlando

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Orlando.