One of the first steps you take when you are determining 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.

In Shelby you can determine when it's possible to plant oenothera by checking out the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Oenothera

Frost tolerance for oenothera:	Tolerant of some frost.
When to plant:	Up to 5 weeks before last frost.

Oenothera do ok in mild cold which means that you can plant them just a bit earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant oenothera in Shelby 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 oenothera and expect a good harvest is probably September. Any later than that and your oenothera may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your oenothera indoors.

Last Frost Date

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

It's important to remember that the actual date of last frost is an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Shelby and it is different every year. Since half of the time in Shelby there is a last frost after April 15 be ready to protect your oenothera 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.