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.

The first chance to plant lavender in Crete can be figured out by looking at the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Lavender

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

You can plant lavender a little earlier in the year because they are moderately cold tolerant.

The earliest that you can plant lavender in Crete 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. If you wait any later than that and your lavender may not have a chance to really do well. 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 Crete. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of -15°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Crete may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Crete it frosts late in the year after April 15 be ready to protect your lavender in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Crete

Here is the info for USDA Zone 5b.

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

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

Plants to Grow in Crete

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