One of the first steps you take when you are figuring out 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.

It's a good idea to determine when it's a good idea to plant diascia by checking out the USDA zone info for Sarasota.

Planting Calendar for Diascia

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

You can plant diascia a little earlier in the year because they are moderately cold tolerant.

The earliest that you can plant diascia in Sarasota 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 diascia and expect a good harvest is probably October. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your diascia may not have a chance to fully mature. If you are starting your diascia indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

In Sarasota the average date of last frost happens on February 15. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of 25°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Sarasota is an average the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Sarasota last frost occurs after February 15 be ready to cover your diascia if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Sarasota

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 Sarasota

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