One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us estimate your gardening schedule is the USDA zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

The USDA zone info for New Orleans should be read to determine when it's possible to plant tithonia.

Planting Calendar for Tithonia

Frost tolerance for tithonia:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After all chance of frost has passed.

You should not plant tithonia until after the last frost when the weather gets warmer because they are not cold tolerant.

The earliest that you can plant tithonia 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 tithonia and expect a good harvest is probably September. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your tithonia may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your tithonia indoors.

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.

Since the USDA zone info for New Orleans may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in New Orleans there is a last frost after February 15 so make sure that you are ready to cover your tithonia 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.