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

The USDA zone info for Petal can be reffered to in order to estimate when you can plant datura.

Planting Calendar for Datura

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

Since datura are one of those plants that can tolerate a tiny bit of cold weather you can plant them a bit earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant datura in Petal 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 datura and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your datura may not have a chance to grow to maturity. Starting your datura indoors is a great way to get them started a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

In Petal the average date of last frost happens on March 15. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of 15°F.

Remember that USDA zone info for Petal is an average and the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Petal there is a last frost after March 15 be ready to cover your datura if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Petal

Here is the info for USDA Zone 8b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	March 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	November 15
Lowest Expected Low	15°F
Highest Expected Low	20°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 15°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 20°F.

Plants to Grow in Petal

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