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.

In Richmond you can determine when to plant alyssum by looking at 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.

Since alyssum do well in cold you can plant them quite a bit earlier in the year than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

The earliest that you can plant alyssum in Richmond 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. Any later than that and your alyssum may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your alyssum indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Richmond. You should expect an average low temperature of -5°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Richmond is an average the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Richmond last frost occurs after April 15 so make sure that you are prepared to protect your alyssum if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Richmond

Here is the info for USDA Zone 6b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-5°F
Highest Expected Low	0°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -5°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 0°F.

Plants to Grow in Richmond

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