Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to figure out your garden schedule. 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 getting a good idea when to plant garden mums is to check out the USDA zone info for Winter Garden.

Planting Calendar for Garden Mums

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

Garden Mums do ok in mild cold which tells us that you can plant them a bit earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant garden mums in Winter Garden 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 garden mums and expect a good harvest is probably October. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your garden mums may not have a chance to grow to maturity. Starting your garden mums indoors is a great way to get them started a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost when the weather gets warmer is on February 15 in Winter Garden. It might get as low as 25°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Winter Garden is an average the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Winter Garden there is a last frost after February 15 so make sure that you are ready to cover your garden mums in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Winter Garden

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 Winter Garden

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Winter Garden.