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.

In South Portland you can estimate when to plant arctotis by looking at the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Arctotis

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

You can plant arctotis a bit earlier in the year because they do well in moderate cold.

The earliest that you can plant arctotis in South Portland 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 arctotis and expect a good harvest is probably September. If you wait any later than that and your arctotis may not have a chance to fully mature. Starting your arctotis indoors is a great way to get them started a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

In South Portland the average date of last frost happens on April 15. You can expect an average low temperature of -15°F in the coldest months of winter.

Keep in mind that USDA zone info for South Portland is not always accurate and the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Since half of the time in South Portland it frosts late in the year after April 15 be ready to protect your arctotis if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for South Portland

Here is the info for USDA Zone 5b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-15°F
Highest Expected Low	-10°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 -10°F.

Plants to Grow in South Portland

You may be interested in your other planting guides for South Portland.