One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us determine your gardening schedule is the USDA zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

In Deridder you can determine when it's a good idea to plant firebush by looking at the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Firebush

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

Since firebush are not cold tolerant you have to wait until after the last frost has passed before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant firebush in Deridder 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 firebush and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your firebush may not have a chance to grow to maturity. If you are starting your firebush indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost is on March 15 in Deridder. You should expect an average low temperature of 15°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Deridder may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Deridder there is a last frost after March 15 so always be ready to cover your firebush if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Deridder

Here is the info for USDA Zone 8b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	March 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	November 15
Lowest Expected Low	15°F
Highest Expected Low	20°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 20°F.

Plants to Grow in Deridder

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