One of the first steps you take when you are making a decision about 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 determining when to plant arctotis is to refer to the USDA zone info for Irmo.

Planting Calendar for Arctotis

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

Arctotis do well in moderate cold which means that you can plant them a little bit earlier than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant arctotis in Irmo 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 arctotis and expect a good harvest is probably September. Any later than that and your arctotis may not have a chance to fully mature. If you are starting your arctotis indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is March 15 in Irmo. You should expect an average low temperature of 10°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Irmo is just an average the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Irmo last frost occurs after March 15 so make sure that you are prepared to cover your arctotis if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Irmo

Here is the info for USDA Zone 8a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	March 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	November 15
Lowest Expected Low	10°F
Highest Expected Low	15°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 10°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 15°F.

Plants to Grow in Irmo

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