Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to figure out your garden schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

The first chance to plant heliotrope in Portales should be estimated by checking out the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Heliotrope

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

Since heliotrope do not do well in cold weather you really should wait until after all chance of frost has passed before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant heliotrope in Portales 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. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your heliotrope may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your heliotrope indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Portales. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of 0°F.

Keep in mind that USDA zone info for Portales is an average and the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Portales it frosts late in the year after April 15 so be sure to be ready to cover your heliotrope in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Portales

Here is the info for USDA Zone 7a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	0°F
Highest Expected Low	5°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 0°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 5°F.

Plants to Grow in Portales

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