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.

The earliest that you can plant xerianthemum in Austin should be determined by reviewing the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Xerianthemum

Frost tolerance for xerianthemum:	Tolerant of a very small amount of frost.
When to plant:	Up to 3 weeks before last frost.

Since xerianthemum are barely cold tolerant you can plant them slightly earlier in the year than other plants that might not handle the cold.

The earliest that you can plant xerianthemum in Austin is April. However, you really should wait until May if you don't want to take any chances.

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

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost 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 is an average the actual date of last frost is different every year. Since half of the time in Austin there is a last frost after May 15 be ready to protect your xerianthemum 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.