Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to figure out your garden schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

The USDA zone info for Shelby can be looked at to estimate when it's possible to plant tropical water plants.

Planting Calendar for Tropical Water Plants

Frost tolerance for tropical water plants:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After the last frost.

It's probably a bad idea to plant tropical water plants until after the last frost has passed because they require warm weather.

The earliest that you can plant tropical water plants in Shelby 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 tropical water plants and expect a good harvest is probably August. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your tropical water plants may not have a chance to really do well. Starting your tropical water plants indoors is a great way to get them started a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Shelby. You should expect an average low temperature of -10°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Shelby may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost is different every year. Half of the time in Shelby it frosts late in the year after April 15 so be sure to be ready to cover your tropical water plants if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Shelby

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 Shelby

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