The USDA Zone info is a great tool for gardeners to help us estimate your gardening schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

The USDA zone info for Richmond should be reffered to in order to figure out when it's the best time to plant stevia.

Planting Calendar for Stevia

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

Stevia require warm weather which means that it's important to wait until it warms up after the last frost before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant stevia in Richmond 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. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else 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

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

Since the USDA zone info for Richmond is just an average the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Richmond you get surprised by a frost after April 15 so make sure that you are ready to protect your stevia if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Richmond

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 Richmond

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