One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us figure out your gardening schedule is the USDA zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

The first opportunity to plant artemesia in Crete can be estimated by looking at the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Artemesia

Frost tolerance for artemesia:	Tolerant of a very small amount of frost.
When to plant:	Up to 3 weeks before last frost.

Since artemesia are barely cold tolerant you can plant them slightly earlier in the year than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

The earliest that you can plant artemesia in Crete is March. However, you really should wait until April if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant artemesia and expect a good harvest is probably August. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your artemesia may not have a chance to grow to maturity. Starting your artemesia indoors is a great way to get them started a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

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

Since the USDA zone info for Crete is not always accurate the actual date of last frost is different every year. Half of the time in Crete last frost occurs after April 15 so make sure that you are ready to cover your artemesia if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Crete

Here is the info for USDA Zone 5b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-15°F
Highest Expected Low	-10°F

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

Plants to Grow in Crete

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