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.

You should be able to estimate when it's a good idea to plant verbena by reviewing the USDA zone info for Ponchatoula.

Planting Calendar for Verbena

Frost tolerance for verbena:	Tolerant of a very small amount of frost.
When to plant:	Up to 3 weeks before last frost.

You can plant verbena a bit earlier in the year because they are barely cold tolerant.

The earliest that you can plant verbena in Ponchatoula 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 verbena and expect a good harvest is probably August. Any later than that and your verbena may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your verbena indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost is on March 15 in Ponchatoula. You should expect an average low temperature of 15°F in the coldest months of winter.

Keep in mind that USDA zone info for Ponchatoula is an average and the actual date of last frost is different every year. Since half of the time in Ponchatoula you get surprised by a frost after March 15 be ready to cover your verbena if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Ponchatoula

Here is the info for USDA Zone 8b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	March 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	November 15
Lowest Expected Low	15°F
Highest Expected Low	20°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 15°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 20°F.

Plants to Grow in Ponchatoula

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