Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to estimate your garden schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

In Hillsborough you can figure out when you can plant hardy hibiscus by reviewing the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Hardy Hibiscus

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

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

The earliest that you can plant hardy hibiscus in Hillsborough 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 hardy hibiscus and expect a good harvest is probably September. If you wait any later than that and your hardy hibiscus may not have a chance to grow to maturity. If you are starting your hardy hibiscus indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average all chance of frost has passed is on April 15 in Hillsborough. It might get as low as 5°F during the coldest months of winter.

Remember that USDA zone info for Hillsborough is just an average and the actual date of last frost is different every year. Since half of the time in Hillsborough last frost occurs after April 15 be ready to protect your hardy hibiscus in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Hillsborough

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 Hillsborough

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