Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to estimate your garden schedule. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

A way of determining when you can plant lupine is to check out the USDA zone info for Shelbyville.

Planting Calendar for Lupine

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

You can plant lupine just a bit earlier in the year because they are moderately cold tolerant.

The earliest that you can plant lupine in Shelbyville 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 fully mature. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your lupine indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost when the weather gets warmer is on April 15 in Shelbyville. You should expect an average low temperature of -10°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Shelbyville is just an average the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Shelbyville you get surprised by a frost after April 15 be ready to protect your lupine in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Shelbyville

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 Shelbyville

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