One of the first steps you take when you are estimating 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 figure out when you can plant digitalis by reviewing the USDA zone info for Tampa.

Planting Calendar for Digitalis

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

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

The earliest that you can plant digitalis in Tampa 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 digitalis and expect a good harvest is probably October. If you wait any later than that and your digitalis may not have a chance to really do well. If you are starting your digitalis indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

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

Remember that the actual date of last frost is an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Tampa and it can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Tampa you get a frost after February 15 so make sure that you are prepared to protect your digitalis if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Tampa

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 Tampa

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