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

A way of making a decision about when it's a good idea to plant four o' clock is to look at the USDA zone info for Brookings.

Planting Calendar for Four O' Clock

Frost tolerance for four o' clock:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After the last frost has passed.

It's probably not a good idea to plant four o' clock until after the last frost has passed because they are not cold tolerant.

The earliest that you can plant four o' clock in Brookings 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 four o' clock and expect a good harvest is probably September. Any later than that and your four o' clock may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your four o' clock indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost is on February 15 in Brookings. It might get as low as 25°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Brookings may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Brookings it frosts late in the year after February 15 so be sure to be ready to cover your four o' clock if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Brookings

Here is the info for USDA Zone 9b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	February 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	December 15
Lowest Expected Low	25°F
Highest Expected Low	30°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 25°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 30°F.

Plants to Grow in Brookings

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