One of the first steps you take when you are estimating your gardening schedule is find your 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 Sumter can be looked at to determine when it's the best time to plant nicotiana.

Planting Calendar for Nicotiana

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

Nicotiana are not cold tolerant which tells us that you really should wait until it warms up after all chance of frost has passed before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant nicotiana 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 nicotiana and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your nicotiana may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your nicotiana indoors.

Last Frost Date

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

Always keep in mind that the actual date of last frost is an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Sumter and it is different every year. Half of the time in Sumter you get a frost after March 15 so always be ready to protect your nicotiana 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.