One of the first steps you take when you are figuring out 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.

A common way of estimating when to plant lithospermum is to examine the USDA zone info for Richmond.

Planting Calendar for Lithospermum

Frost tolerance for lithospermum:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After the last frost.

It's a bad idea to plant lithospermum until after all chance of frost has passed because they are not cold tolerant.

The earliest that you can plant lithospermum in Richmond 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 lithospermum and expect a good harvest is probably August. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your lithospermum may not have a chance to really do well. If you are starting your lithospermum indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Richmond. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of -10°F.

Just be sure to remember that USDA zone info for Richmond is an average and the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Richmond you get a frost after April 15 so just be sure to be ready to protect your lithospermum in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Richmond

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 Richmond

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