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.

It's possible to estimate when you can plant thyme by referring to the USDA zone info for Norfolk.

Planting Calendar for Thyme

Frost tolerance for thyme:	Very tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	Up to 7 weeks before last frost.

Thyme do well in a bit of cold which tells us that you can plant them a lot earlier in the year than more sensitive plants.

The earliest that you can plant thyme in Norfolk 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 thyme and expect a good harvest is probably September. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your thyme may not have a chance to really do well. Starting your thyme indoors is a great way to get them started a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Norfolk. It might get as low as -20°F during the coldest months of winter.

Keep in mind that USDA zone info for Norfolk is an average and the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Norfolk you get surprised by a frost after April 15 be ready to protect your thyme in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Norfolk

Here is the info for USDA Zone 5a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-20°F
Highest Expected Low	-15°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -20°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -15°F.

Plants to Grow in Norfolk

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