One of the first steps you take when you are estimating 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.

A common way of figuring out when you can plant flowering maple is to examine the USDA zone info for New Orleans.

Planting Calendar for Flowering Maple

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

Flowering Maple require warm weather which means that it's important to wait until it warms up after all chance of frost has passed before you can plant them.

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

Last Frost Date

In New Orleans the average date of last frost happens on February 15. It might get as low as 25°F during the coldest months of winter.

Remember that USDA zone info for New Orleans is an average and the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in New Orleans there is a last frost after February 15 so be sure to be ready to cover your flowering maple in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for New Orleans

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 New Orleans

You may be interested in your other planting guides for New Orleans.