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.

In Sumter you can figure out when it's a good idea to plant dallas fern by referring to the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Dallas Fern

Frost tolerance for dallas fern:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After the last frost.

It's probably a bad idea to plant dallas fern until after all chance of frost has passed because they require warm weather.

The earliest that you can plant dallas fern in Sumter 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 dallas fern and expect a good harvest is probably August. Any later than that and your dallas fern may not have a chance to fully mature. Starting your dallas fern indoors is a great way to get them started a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost is on March 15 in Sumter. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of 10°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Sumter is just an average the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Sumter you get a frost after March 15 so be sure to be ready to protect your dallas fern in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Sumter

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 Sumter

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