One of the first steps you take when you are determining 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.

The USDA zone info for Sumter can be used to determine when it's a good idea to plant sweet williams.

Planting Calendar for Sweet Williams

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

Since sweet williams do well in moderate cold you can plant them just a bit earlier in the year than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

The earliest that you can plant sweet williams in Sumter 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 sweet williams and expect a good harvest is probably September. Any later than that and your sweet williams may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your sweet williams indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average all chance of frost has passed is on March 15 in Sumter. You can expect an average low temperature of 10°F in the coldest months of winter.

Always keep in mind that the actual date of last frost may not be accurate from year to year because it is based on the USDA zone info for Sumter and it is different every year. Since half of the time in Sumter there is a last frost after March 15 be ready to protect your sweet williams if you have 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.