One of the first steps you take when you are making a decision about 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.

The earliest that you can plant hardy hibiscus in Athens can be determined by referring to the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Hardy Hibiscus

Frost tolerance for hardy hibiscus:	Very tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	Up to 7 weeks before last frost.

Hardy Hibiscus do ok in a bit of cold which means that you can plant them much earlier in the year than other plants that might not handle the cold.

The earliest that you can plant hardy hibiscus in Athens is February. However, you really should wait until March if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant hardy hibiscus and expect a good harvest is probably September. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your hardy hibiscus may not have a chance to fully mature. Starting your hardy hibiscus indoors is a great way to get them started a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is March 15 in Athens. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of 10°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Athens is not always accurate the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Athens you get surprised by a frost after March 15 be ready to protect your hardy hibiscus in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Athens

Here is the info for USDA Zone 8a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	March 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	November 15
Lowest Expected Low	10°F
Highest Expected Low	15°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 10°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 15°F.

Plants to Grow in Athens

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