The USDA Zone info is a great tool for gardeners to help us determine your gardening schedule. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

A way of getting a good idea when it's possible to plant datura is to examine the USDA zone info for Ithaca.

Planting Calendar for Datura

Frost tolerance for datura:	Tolerant of a very small amount of frost.
When to plant:	Up to 3 weeks before last frost.

Datura are barely cold tolerant which means that you can start planting them slightly earlier than more sensitive plants.

The earliest that you can plant datura in Ithaca is March. However, you really should wait until April if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant datura and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your datura may not have a chance to grow to maturity. If you are starting your datura indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average all chance of frost has passed is on April 15 in Ithaca. You should expect an average low temperature of -10°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Ithaca is an average the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Ithaca you get surprised by a frost after April 15 be ready to cover your datura in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Ithaca

Here is the info for USDA Zone 6a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-10°F
Highest Expected Low	-5°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -10°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -5°F.

Plants to Grow in Ithaca

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