One of the first steps you take when you are figuring out your gardening schedule is find your USDA Zone info. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

In Franklin you can determine when it's the best time to plant lisianthus by looking at the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Lisianthus

Frost tolerance for lisianthus:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After the last frost when the weather gets warmer.

Lisianthus are not cold tolerant which means that you need to wait until it warms up after the last frost before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant lisianthus in Franklin 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. If you wait any later than that and your lisianthus may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your lisianthus indoors.

Last Frost Date

In Franklin the average date of last frost happens on April 15. It might get as low as -20°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Franklin is just an average the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Franklin last frost occurs after April 15 be ready to cover your lisianthus if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Franklin

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 Franklin

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