One of the first steps you take when you are figuring out 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.

In Opelousas you can figure out when it's a good idea to plant tritoma by looking at the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Tritoma

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

Since tritoma do well in cold you can plant them a lot earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

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

Last Frost Date

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

Since the USDA zone info for Opelousas is just an average the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Opelousas last frost occurs after February 15 be ready to cover your tritoma if you have 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.