One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us determine 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 USDA zone info for Charleston should be reviewed to estimate when it's the best time to plant iresene.

Planting Calendar for Iresene

Frost tolerance for iresene:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After the last frost has passed.

You should not plant iresene until after the last frost has passed because they do not do well in cold weather.

The earliest that you can plant iresene in Charleston 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 iresene and expect a good harvest is probably September. Any later than that and your iresene may not have a chance to grow to maturity. If you are starting your iresene indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost has passed is on February 15 in Charleston. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of 20°F.

Just be sure to remember that USDA zone info for Charleston may not be accurate from year to year and the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Charleston last frost occurs after February 15 be ready to cover your iresene if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Charleston

Here is the info for USDA Zone 9a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	February 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	December 15
Lowest Expected Low	20°F
Highest Expected Low	25°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 20°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 25°F.

Plants to Grow in Charleston

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