One of the first steps you take when you are estimating 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 Charleston you can figure out when it's possible to plant hibiscus by checking out the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Hibiscus

Frost tolerance for hibiscus:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After the last frost when the weather gets warmer.

It's not a good idea to plant hibiscus until after the last frost when the weather gets warmer because they do not do well in cold weather.

The earliest that you can plant hibiscus in Charleston 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 hibiscus and expect a good harvest is probably August. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your hibiscus may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your hibiscus indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost is on April 15 in Charleston. You should expect an average low temperature of 0°F in the coldest months of winter.

It's important to remember that the actual date of last frost is not always accurate because it is based on the USDA zone info for Charleston and it can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Charleston it frosts late in the year after April 15 so make sure that you are prepared to protect your hibiscus if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Charleston

Here is the info for USDA Zone 7a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	0°F
Highest Expected Low	5°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 0°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 5°F.

Plants to Grow in Charleston

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