One of the first steps you take when you are determining your gardening schedule is find your 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.

One way of determining when to plant hardy hibiscus is to use the USDA zone info for New Orleans.

Planting Calendar for Hardy Hibiscus

Frost tolerance for hardy hibiscus:	Very tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	Up to 7 weeks before last frost.

You can plant hardy hibiscus a lot earlier in the year because they are very cold tolerant.

The earliest that you can plant hardy hibiscus in New Orleans 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 hardy hibiscus and expect a good harvest is probably October. If you wait any later than that and your hardy hibiscus may not have a chance to fully mature. If you are starting your hardy hibiscus indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average all chance of frost has passed is on February 15 in New Orleans. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of 25°F.

Keep in mind that USDA zone info for New Orleans is just an average and the actual date of last frost is different every year. Half of the time in New Orleans it frosts late in the year after February 15 so just be sure to be ready to protect your hardy hibiscus in the event of a surprise late frost.

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.