One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us estimate your gardening schedule is the USDA zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

The USDA zone info for Laurel should be used to estimate when to plant dusty miller.

Planting Calendar for Dusty Miller

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

Dusty Miller can survive in pretty solid cold which means that you can plant them quite a bit earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant dusty miller in Laurel is February. However, you really should wait until March if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant dusty miller and expect a good harvest is probably September. If you wait any later than that and your dusty miller may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your dusty miller indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost when the weather gets warmer is on March 15 in Laurel. You should expect an average low temperature of 10°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Laurel is an average the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Laurel there is a last frost after March 15 so be sure to be ready to cover your dusty miller in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Laurel

Here is the info for USDA Zone 8a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	March 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	November 15
Lowest Expected Low	10°F
Highest Expected Low	15°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 15°F.

Plants to Grow in Laurel

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