When to Plant Tritoma in Taos, NM

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

By referring to the USDA zone info for Taos you should be able to determine when it's the best time to plant tritoma.


Planting Calendar for Tritoma

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

Tritoma are one of those plants that can tolerate quite a bit of cold weather which means that you can get them planted much earlier than other plants that might not handle the cold.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Legend 
A good time to plant tritoma
Possibly ok, but a risky time to plant tritoma
Probably not a good time to plant tritoma

The earliest that you can plant tritoma in Taos 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 tritoma and expect a good harvest is probably September. If you wait any later than that and your tritoma may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your tritoma indoors.

Last Frost Date

In Taos the average date of last frost happens on April 15. It might get as low as -15°F during the coldest months of winter.

Keep in mind that USDA zone info for Taos is not always accurate and the actual date of last frost is different every year. Half of the time in Taos you get surprised by a frost after April 15 so make sure that you are prepared to cover your tritoma in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Taos

Here is the info for USDA Zone 5b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)October 15
Lowest Expected Low-15°F
Highest Expected Low-10°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -15°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -10°F.

Plants to Grow in Taos

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