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 first opportunity to plant centaurea in Slidell should be determined by using the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Centaurea

Frost tolerance for centaurea:	Tolerant of some frost.
When to plant:	Up to 5 weeks before last frost.

Centaurea do well in moderate cold which tells us that you can plant them earlier than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant centaurea in Slidell 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 centaurea and expect a good harvest is probably October. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your centaurea may not have a chance to grow to maturity. If you are starting your centaurea indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average all chance of frost has passed is on February 15 in Slidell. It might get as low as 20°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Slidell is not always accurate the actual date of last frost is different every year. Half of the time in Slidell last frost occurs after February 15 so be sure to be ready to protect your centaurea if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Slidell

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 Slidell

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