Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to estimate your garden schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

One way of making a decision about when it's possible to plant stevia is to refer to the USDA zone info for Darien.

Planting Calendar for Stevia

Frost tolerance for stevia:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After the last frost.

It's probably not a good idea to plant stevia until after the last frost because they require warm weather.

The earliest that you can plant stevia in Darien 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 stevia and expect a good harvest is probably August. Any later than that and your stevia may not have a chance to really do well. If you are starting your stevia indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Darien. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of -15°F.

It's important to remember that USDA zone info for Darien is an average and the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Darien last frost occurs after April 15 so be sure to be ready to cover your stevia in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Darien

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 Darien

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