The USDA Zone info is a great tool for gardeners to help us estimate your gardening schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

One way of figuring out when it's the best time to plant amaranthus is to check out the USDA zone info for Lake Charles.

Planting Calendar for Amaranthus

Frost tolerance for amaranthus:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After the last frost when the weather gets warmer.

It's not a good idea to plant amaranthus until after the last frost because they do not do well in cold weather.

The earliest that you can plant amaranthus in Lake Charles is March. However, you really should wait until April if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant amaranthus and expect a good harvest is probably September. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your amaranthus may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your amaranthus indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost has passed is on February 15 in Lake Charles. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of 20°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Lake Charles is just an average the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Lake Charles there is a last frost after February 15 be ready to cover your amaranthus in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Lake Charles

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 Lake Charles

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Lake Charles.