One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us figure out your gardening schedule is the USDA zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

In Mentor you can figure out when to plant iberis by using the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Iberis

Frost tolerance for iberis:	Tolerant of some frost.
When to plant:	Up to 5 weeks before last frost.

Since iberis do well in moderate cold you can plant them a little earlier in the year than other plants that might not handle the cold.

The earliest that you can plant iberis in Mentor 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 iberis and expect a good harvest is probably September. Any later than that and your iberis may not have a chance to really do well. Starting your iberis indoors is a great way to get them started a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

In Mentor the average date of last frost happens on April 15. It might get as low as -5°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Mentor is not always accurate the actual date of last frost is different every year. Half of the time in Mentor it frosts late in the year after April 15 so make sure that you are prepared to protect your iberis if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Mentor

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 Mentor

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