One of the first steps you take when you are getting a good idea 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.

One way of estimating when it's possible to plant tritoma is to examine the USDA zone info for Austin.

Planting Calendar for Tritoma

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

Since tritoma do well in cold you can plant them quite a bit earlier in the year than other plants that might not handle the cold.

The earliest that you can plant tritoma 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 tritoma and expect a good harvest is probably August. Any later than that and your tritoma may not have a chance to really do well. If you are starting your tritoma indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

In Austin the average date of last frost happens on May 15. You should expect an average low temperature of -25°F in the coldest months of winter.

Remember that USDA zone info for Austin is an average and the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Austin it frosts late in the year after May 15 be ready to protect your tritoma in the event of a surprise late frost.

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.