One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us figure out 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 Opelousas should be reffered to in order to estimate when to plant heliotrope.

Planting Calendar for Heliotrope

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

Since heliotrope are not cold tolerant you really should wait until after all chance of frost has passed before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant heliotrope in Opelousas 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 heliotrope and expect a good harvest is probably September. Any later than that and your heliotrope may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your heliotrope indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost when the weather gets warmer is on February 15 in Opelousas. It might get as low as 20°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Opelousas may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Opelousas there is a last frost after February 15 so be sure to be ready to protect your heliotrope in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Opelousas

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 Opelousas

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Opelousas.