The USDA Zone info is a great tool for gardeners to help us estimate your gardening schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

A way of estimating when to plant mimulus is to look at the USDA zone info for Newport.

Planting Calendar for Mimulus

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

You really shouldn't plant mimulus until after the last frost when the weather gets warmer because they require warm weather.

The earliest that you can plant mimulus in Newport 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 mimulus and expect a good harvest is probably August. Any later than that and your mimulus may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your mimulus indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average all chance of frost has passed is on March 15 in Newport. You can expect an average low temperature of 15°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Newport is an average the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Newport there is a last frost after March 15 so always be ready to protect your mimulus if you have one of those late frosts.

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.