One of the first steps you take when you are making a decision about 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 Spring Lake you can figure out when it's a good idea to plant heliotrope by using the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Heliotrope

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

It's not a good idea to plant heliotrope until after the last frost when the weather gets warmer because they are not cold tolerant.

The earliest that you can plant heliotrope in Spring Lake 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 heliotrope and expect a good harvest is probably August. Any later than that and your heliotrope may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your heliotrope indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average all chance of frost has passed is on March 15 in Spring Lake. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of 10°F.

It's important to remember that USDA zone info for Spring Lake is just an average and the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Spring Lake last frost occurs after March 15 so just be sure to be ready to protect your heliotrope in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Spring Lake

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 Spring Lake

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Spring Lake.