One of the first steps you take when you are determining 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.

The USDA zone info for Alton can be reffered to in order to estimate when it's a good idea to plant lavender.

Planting Calendar for Lavender

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

Lavender do well in moderate cold which tells us that you can get them planted earlier than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant lavender in Alton 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 lavender and expect a good harvest is probably September. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your lavender may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your lavender indoors.

Last Frost Date

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

Since the USDA zone info for Alton is an average the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in Alton you get surprised by a frost after April 15 be ready to cover your lavender in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Alton

Here is the info for USDA Zone 6a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-10°F
Highest Expected Low	-5°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 -5°F.

Plants to Grow in Alton

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