One of the first steps you take when you are figuring out 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 earliest that you can plant alyssum in Marseilles can be figured out by reviewing the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Alyssum

Frost tolerance for alyssum:	Very tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	Up to 7 weeks before last frost.

Alyssum can survive in quite a bit of cold which tells us that you can plant them quite a bit earlier in the year than other plants that might not handle the cold.

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

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost is on April 15 in Marseilles. You can expect an average low temperature of -15°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Marseilles may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Marseilles you get surprised by a frost after April 15 so just be sure to be ready to protect your alyssum in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Marseilles

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 Marseilles

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