One of the first steps you take when you are determining 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.

A way of estimating when it's possible to plant tropical water plants is to use the USDA zone info for Slidell.

Planting Calendar for Tropical Water Plants

Frost tolerance for tropical water plants:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After the last frost.

It's not a good idea to plant tropical water plants until after the last frost when the weather gets warmer because they do not do well in cold weather.

The earliest that you can plant tropical water plants in Slidell 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 tropical water plants and expect a good harvest is probably September. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your tropical water plants may not have a chance to grow to maturity. Starting your tropical water plants indoors is a great way to get them started a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average all chance of frost has passed is on February 15 in Slidell. You can expect an average low temperature of 20°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Slidell may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost is different every year. Since half of the time in Slidell it frosts late in the year after February 15 be ready to protect your tropical water plants in the event of one of those late frosts.

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.