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 opportunity to plant lupine in Martinsville can be figured out by referring to the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Lupine

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

Lupine are moderately cold tolerant which tells us that you can get them planted earlier than other plants that might not handle the cold.

The earliest that you can plant lupine in Martinsville 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 lupine and expect a good harvest is probably September. If you wait any later than that and your lupine may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your lupine indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Martinsville. It might get as low as -10°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Martinsville is not always accurate the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Martinsville there is a last frost after April 15 so be sure to be ready to protect your lupine in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Martinsville

Here is the info for USDA Zone 6a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-10°F
Highest Expected Low	-5°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -10°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -5°F.

Plants to Grow in Martinsville

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