One of the first steps you take when you are determining 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.

The USDA zone info for Rio Rancho should be used to figure out when you can plant coleus.

Planting Calendar for Coleus

Frost tolerance for coleus:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After the last frost.

It's probably a bad idea to plant coleus until after all chance of frost has passed because they require warm weather.

The earliest that you can plant coleus in Rio Rancho 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 coleus and expect a good harvest is probably August. Any later than that and your coleus may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your coleus indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Rio Rancho. You should expect an average low temperature of 5°F in the coldest months of winter.

Just be sure to remember that USDA zone info for Rio Rancho is not always accurate and the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Rio Rancho you get surprised by a frost after April 15 so always be ready to cover your coleus in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Rio Rancho

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 Rio Rancho

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Rio Rancho.