One of the first steps you take when you are figuring out 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 common way of getting a good idea when it's a good idea to plant heliotrope is to refer to the USDA zone info for Ocean City.

Planting Calendar for Heliotrope

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

It's probably a bad idea to plant heliotrope until after all chance of frost has passed because they are not cold tolerant.

The earliest that you can plant heliotrope in Ocean City 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. If you wait any later than that and your heliotrope may not have a chance to really do well. Starting your heliotrope 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 Ocean City. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of 5°F.

Remember that the actual date of last frost is just an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Ocean City and it changes from year to year. Half of the time in Ocean City there is a last frost after April 15 so make sure that you are prepared to protect your heliotrope if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Ocean City

Here is the info for USDA Zone 7b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	5°F
Highest Expected Low	10°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 5°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 10°F.

Plants to Grow in Ocean City

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Ocean City.