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

It's a good idea to determine when to plant mecardonia by using the USDA zone info for Sumter.

Planting Calendar for Mecardonia

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

Mecardonia require warm weather which tells us that you have to wait until it warms up after the last frost has passed before you can plant them.

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

Last Frost Date

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

Since the USDA zone info for Sumter is an average the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Sumter there is a last frost after March 15 so be sure to be ready to cover your mecardonia in the event of a surprise 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.