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.

You can figure out when it's the best time to plant painted tongues in Athens by checking out the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Painted Tongues

Frost tolerance for painted tongues:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After the last frost has passed.

You can not plant painted tongues until after the last frost because they do not do well in cold weather.

The earliest that you can plant painted tongues in Athens 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 painted tongues and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your painted tongues may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your painted tongues indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is March 15 in Athens. It might get as low as 10°F during the coldest months of winter.

It's important to remember that USDA zone info for Athens is just an average and the actual date of last frost is different every year. Half of the time in Athens last frost occurs after March 15 so be sure to be ready to protect your painted tongues 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.