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.

A common way of figuring out when it's a good idea to plant stevia is to refer to the USDA zone info for Starke.

Planting Calendar for Stevia

Frost tolerance for stevia:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After the last frost has passed.

Since stevia require warm weather you have to wait until after the last frost when the weather gets warmer before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant stevia in Starke 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 stevia and expect a good harvest is probably September. Any later than that and your stevia may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your stevia indoors.

Last Frost Date

In Starke the average date of last frost happens on February 15. It might get as low as 20°F during the coldest months of winter.

Keep in mind that the actual date of last frost may not be accurate from year to year because it is based on the USDA zone info for Starke and it can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Starke you get surprised by a frost after February 15 be ready to cover your stevia in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Starke

Here is the info for USDA Zone 9a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	February 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	December 15
Lowest Expected Low	20°F
Highest Expected Low	25°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 20°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 25°F.

Plants to Grow in Starke

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