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 way of estimating when it's possible to plant four o' clock is to look at the USDA zone info for Shelby.

Planting Calendar for Four O' Clock

Frost tolerance for four o' clock:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After the last frost when the weather gets warmer.

You can not plant four o' clock until after the last frost when the weather gets warmer because they require warm weather.

The earliest that you can plant four o' clock in Shelby 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 four o' clock and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your four o' clock may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your four o' clock indoors.

Last Frost Date

In Shelby the average date of last frost happens on April 15. You should expect an average low temperature of 5°F in the coldest months of winter.

Remember that the actual date of last frost may not be accurate from year to year because it is based on the USDA zone info for Shelby and it can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Shelby last frost occurs after April 15 so always be ready to protect your four o' clock if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Shelby

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 Shelby

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