One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us determine your gardening schedule is the USDA zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

A way of estimating when it's the best time to plant scutellaria is to refer to the USDA zone info for Alton.

Planting Calendar for Scutellaria

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

Since scutellaria do not do well in cold weather you really should wait until after all chance of frost has passed before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant scutellaria in Alton 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 scutellaria and expect a good harvest is probably August. Any later than that and your scutellaria may not have a chance to grow to maturity. If you are starting your scutellaria indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

In Alton the average date of last frost happens on April 15. You should expect an average low temperature of -10°F in the coldest months of winter.

Remember that the actual date of last frost is just an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Alton and it can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Alton there is a last frost after April 15 so make sure that you are prepared to cover your scutellaria in the event of a 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.