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.

One way of getting a good idea when to plant heliotrope is to check out the USDA zone info for Carlsbad.

Planting Calendar for Heliotrope

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

It's a bad idea to plant heliotrope until after the last frost because they are not cold tolerant.

The earliest that you can plant heliotrope in Carlsbad 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 fully mature. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your heliotrope indoors.

Last Frost Date

In Carlsbad the average date of last frost happens on March 15. It might get as low as 10°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Carlsbad is not always accurate the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Carlsbad there is a last frost after March 15 so make sure that you are ready to protect your heliotrope if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Carlsbad

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 Carlsbad

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