The USDA Zone info is a great tool for gardeners to help us figure out your gardening schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

In Durham you can figure out when it's the best time to plant thyme by looking at the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Thyme

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

Thyme do well in pretty solid cold which tells us that you can plant them a lot earlier in the year than other plants that might not handle the cold.

The earliest that you can plant thyme in Durham 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 thyme and expect a good harvest is probably September. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your thyme may not have a chance to grow to maturity. If you are starting your thyme indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost when the weather gets warmer is on April 15 in Durham. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of 5°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Durham is not always accurate the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Durham it frosts late in the year after April 15 so always be ready to cover your thyme if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Durham

Here is the info for USDA Zone 7b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	5°F
Highest Expected Low	10°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 5°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 10°F.

Plants to Grow in Durham

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