One of the first steps you take when you are getting a good idea 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 determining when it's a good idea to plant lisianthus is to use the USDA zone info for Smithfield.

Planting Calendar for Lisianthus

Frost tolerance for lisianthus:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After all chance of frost has passed.

You can not plant lisianthus until after the last frost has passed because they are not cold tolerant.

The earliest that you can plant lisianthus in Smithfield 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 lisianthus and expect a good harvest is probably August. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your lisianthus may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your lisianthus indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost has passed is on March 15 in Smithfield. It might get as low as 10°F during the coldest months of winter.

Keep in mind that USDA zone info for Smithfield may not be accurate from year to year and the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Smithfield last frost occurs after March 15 so make sure that you are prepared to protect your lisianthus if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Smithfield

Here is the info for USDA Zone 8a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	March 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	November 15
Lowest Expected Low	10°F
Highest Expected Low	15°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 10°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 15°F.

Plants to Grow in Smithfield

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