One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us determine 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.

By using the USDA zone info for Birmingham you should be able to determine when to plant alyssum.

Planting Calendar for Alyssum

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

Alyssum do ok in a bit of cold which means that you can plant them a lot earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant alyssum in Birmingham 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. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your alyssum may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your alyssum indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost is on April 15 in Birmingham. It might get as low as -10°F during the coldest months of winter.

Just be sure to remember that USDA zone info for Birmingham may not be accurate from year to year and the actual date of last frost is different every year. Half of the time in Birmingham you get a frost after April 15 so make sure that you are prepared to protect your alyssum if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Birmingham

Here is the info for USDA Zone 6a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-10°F
Highest Expected Low	-5°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -10°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -5°F.

Plants to Grow in Birmingham

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