One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us estimate 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.

The earliest that you can plant dusty miller in Portland should be figured out by looking at the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Dusty Miller

Frost tolerance for dusty miller:	Very tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	Up to 7 weeks before last frost.

You can plant dusty miller much earlier in the year because they are one of those plants that can tolerate quite a bit of cold weather.

The earliest that you can plant dusty miller in Portland 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 dusty miller and expect a good harvest is probably September. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your dusty miller may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your dusty miller indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost when the weather gets warmer is on March 15 in Portland. You can expect an average low temperature of 15°F in the coldest months of winter.

Always keep in mind that the actual date of last frost is not always accurate because it is based on the USDA zone info for Portland and it changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Portland you get a frost after March 15 be ready to cover your dusty miller in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Portland

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 Portland

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