One of the first steps you take when you are figuring out 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.

You can figure out when you can plant cosmos in Lafayette by looking at the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Cosmos

Frost tolerance for cosmos:	Tolerant of a very small amount of frost.
When to plant:	Up to 3 weeks before last frost.

Cosmos do ok in very little cold which means that you can plant them slightly earlier in the year than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

The earliest that you can plant cosmos in Lafayette 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 cosmos and expect a good harvest is probably September. Any later than that and your cosmos may not have a chance to really do well. If you are starting your cosmos indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

In Lafayette the average date of last frost happens on February 15. You can expect an average low temperature of 20°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Lafayette is not always accurate the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Lafayette last frost occurs after February 15 be ready to cover your cosmos in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Lafayette

Here is the info for USDA Zone 9a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	February 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	December 15
Lowest Expected Low	20°F
Highest Expected Low	25°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 20°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 25°F.

Plants to Grow in Lafayette

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