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.

A way of determining when it's a good idea to plant chinese chives is to use the USDA zone info for Newport.

Planting Calendar for Chinese chives

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

Chinese chives do well in moderate cold which means that you can get them planted earlier than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

The earliest that you can plant chinese chives in Newport 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 chinese chives and expect a good harvest is probably September. If you wait any later than that and your chinese chives may not have a chance to grow to maturity. Starting your chinese chives indoors is a great way to get them started a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is March 15 in Newport. You should expect an average low temperature of 15°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Newport may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost is different every year. Since half of the time in Newport you get surprised by a frost after March 15 be ready to cover your chinese chives if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Newport

Here is the info for USDA Zone 8b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	March 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	November 15
Lowest Expected Low	15°F
Highest Expected Low	20°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 15°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 20°F.

Plants to Grow in Newport

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