One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us estimate 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 Gretna you can determine when it's possible to plant lupine by using 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 means that you can get them planted earlier than more sensitive plants.

The earliest that you can plant lupine in Gretna is January. However, you really should wait until February if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant lupine and expect a good harvest is probably October. If you wait any later than that and your lupine may not have a chance to really do well. If you are starting your lupine indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

In Gretna the average date of last frost happens on February 15. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of 25°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Gretna is an average the actual date of last frost is different every year. Since half of the time in Gretna there is a last frost after February 15 be ready to protect your lupine in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Gretna

Here is the info for USDA Zone 9b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	February 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	December 15
Lowest Expected Low	25°F
Highest Expected Low	30°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 25°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 30°F.

Plants to Grow in Gretna

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