One of the first steps you take when you are making a decision about your gardening schedule is find your USDA Zone info. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

In Ottawa you can figure out when it's the best time to plant scaevola by looking at the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Scaevola

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

Scaevola do not do well in cold weather which tells us that you really should wait until it warms up after the last frost before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant scaevola in Ottawa 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 scaevola and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your scaevola may not have a chance to fully mature. Starting your scaevola indoors is a great way to get them started a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

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

Keep in mind that the actual date of last frost is an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Ottawa and it is different every year. Since half of the time in Ottawa last frost occurs after April 15 be ready to protect your scaevola in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Ottawa

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 Ottawa

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