The USDA Zone info is a great tool for gardeners to help us estimate your gardening schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

A way of figuring out when it's the best time to plant lavender is to use the USDA zone info for Austin.

Planting Calendar for Lavender

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

You can plant lavender a bit earlier in the year because they are moderately cold tolerant.

The earliest that you can plant lavender in Austin 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 lavender and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your lavender may not have a chance to fully mature. If you are starting your lavender indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost when the weather gets warmer is on May 15 in Austin. You can expect an average low temperature of -25°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Austin may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost is different every year. Half of the time in Austin you get surprised by a frost after May 15 so make sure that you are prepared to protect your lavender if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Austin

Here is the info for USDA Zone 4b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	May 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	September 15
Lowest Expected Low	-25°F
Highest Expected Low	-20°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -25°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -20°F.

Plants to Grow in Austin

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