One of the first steps you take when you are figuring out your gardening schedule is find your USDA Zone info. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

A common way of making a decision about when it's possible to plant torenia is to look at the USDA zone info for Valparaiso.

Planting Calendar for Torenia

Frost tolerance for torenia:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After the last frost when the weather gets warmer.

Torenia are not cold tolerant which means that it's necessary to wait until it warms up after the last frost when the weather gets warmer before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant torenia 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 torenia and expect a good harvest is probably August. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your torenia may not have a chance to grow to maturity. Starting your torenia indoors is a great way to get them started a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost is on March 15 in Valparaiso. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of 15°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Valparaiso is just an average the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Valparaiso last frost occurs after March 15 so make sure that you are ready to protect your torenia in the event of one of those late frosts.

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.