The USDA Zone info is a great tool for gardeners to help us figure out your gardening schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

By looking at the USDA zone info for Portales it's a good idea to estimate when to plant lavender cotton.

Planting Calendar for Lavender Cotton

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

Lavender Cotton do well in cold which means that you can get them planted much earlier than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant lavender cotton in Portales 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 lavender cotton and expect a good harvest is probably September. Any later than that and your lavender cotton may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your lavender cotton indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Portales. It might get as low as 0°F during the coldest months of winter.

It's important to remember that USDA zone info for Portales is an average and the actual date of last frost is different every year. Since half of the time in Portales you get surprised by a frost after April 15 be ready to cover your lavender cotton in the event of one of those late frosts.

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.