When to Plant Alyssum in Watertown, MA

One of the first steps you take when you are determining 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 determine when it's a good idea to plant alyssum by looking at the USDA zone info for Watertown.


Planting Calendar for Alyssum

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

Alyssum are very cold tolerant which tells us that you can start planting them much earlier than other frost tender plants.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Legend 
A good time to plant alyssum
Possibly ok, but a risky time to plant alyssum
Probably not a good time to plant alyssum

The earliest that you can plant alyssum in Watertown is February. However, you really should wait until March if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant alyssum and expect a good harvest is probably September. If you wait any later than that and your alyssum may not have a chance to really do well. Starting your alyssum indoors is a great way to get them started a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost has passed is on April 15 in Watertown. You should expect an average low temperature of -5°F in the coldest months of winter.

It's important to remember that USDA zone info for Watertown is not always accurate and the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Watertown last frost occurs after April 15 be ready to cover your alyssum if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Watertown

Here is the info for USDA Zone 6b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)October 15
Lowest Expected Low-5°F
Highest Expected Low0°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -5°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 0°F.

Plants to Grow in Watertown

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