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.

A way of determining when it's possible to plant stevia is to consult the USDA zone info for Mendota.

Planting Calendar for Stevia

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

Since stevia are not cold tolerant you have to wait until after the last frost when the weather gets warmer before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant stevia in Mendota 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. If you wait any later than that and your stevia may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your stevia indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost has passed is on April 15 in Mendota. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of -15°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Mendota may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost is different every year. Half of the time in Mendota last frost occurs after April 15 so always be ready to protect your stevia if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Mendota

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 Mendota

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