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

A way of making a decision about when it's a good idea to plant chrysanthemum is to refer to the USDA zone info for Valparaiso.

Planting Calendar for Chrysanthemum

Frost tolerance for chrysanthemum:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After all chance of frost has passed.

Chrysanthemum require warm weather which tells us that you must wait until it warms up after the last frost has passed before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant chrysanthemum in Valparaiso is April. However, you really should wait until May if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant chrysanthemum and expect a good harvest is probably August. Any later than that and your chrysanthemum may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your chrysanthemum indoors.

Last Frost Date

In Valparaiso the average date of last frost happens on March 15. You can expect an average low temperature of 15°F in the coldest months of winter.

It's important to remember that USDA zone info for Valparaiso is an average and the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Valparaiso it frosts late in the year after March 15 so make sure that you are ready to cover your chrysanthemum if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Valparaiso

Here is the info for USDA Zone 8b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	March 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	November 15
Lowest Expected Low	15°F
Highest Expected Low	20°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 15°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 20°F.

Plants to Grow in Valparaiso

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