One of the first steps you take when you are estimating your gardening schedule is find your USDA Zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

It's a good idea to determine when it's the best time to plant plectranthus by referring to the USDA zone info for Ottawa.

Planting Calendar for Plectranthus

Frost tolerance for plectranthus:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After all chance of frost has passed.

It's probably not a good idea to plant plectranthus until after the last frost because they do not do well in cold weather.

The earliest that you can plant plectranthus in Ottawa 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 plectranthus and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your plectranthus may not have a chance to fully mature. Starting your plectranthus indoors is a great way to get them started a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

In Ottawa the average date of last frost happens on April 15. It might get as low as -10°F during the coldest months of winter.

Remember that USDA zone info for Ottawa is just an average and the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Ottawa last frost occurs after April 15 be ready to cover your plectranthus if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Ottawa

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 Ottawa

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