One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us determine your gardening schedule is the USDA zone info. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

The USDA zone info for Lake Charles can be used to figure out when it's possible to plant datura.

Planting Calendar for Datura

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

Since datura are one of those plants that can tolerate a tiny bit of cold weather you can plant them just a tiny bit earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant datura in Lake Charles 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 datura and expect a good harvest is probably September. If you wait any later than that and your datura may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your datura indoors.

Last Frost Date

In Lake Charles the average date of last frost happens on February 15. It might get as low as 20°F during the coldest months of winter.

Just be sure to remember that the actual date of last frost is an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Lake Charles and it will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in Lake Charles last frost occurs after February 15 be ready to cover your datura if you have a surprise late frost.

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.