One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us determine your gardening schedule is the 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.

In Ruidoso you can determine when it's a good idea to plant heliotrope by referring to the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Heliotrope

Frost tolerance for heliotrope:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After the last frost when the weather gets warmer.

Since heliotrope do not do well in cold weather you have to wait until after the last frost has passed before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant heliotrope in Ruidoso 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. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your heliotrope indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average all chance of frost has passed is on April 15 in Ruidoso. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of -5°F.

It's important to remember that USDA zone info for Ruidoso is not always accurate and the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Ruidoso it frosts late in the year after April 15 be ready to cover your heliotrope if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Ruidoso

Here is the info for USDA Zone 6b.

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

Plants to Grow in Ruidoso

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