One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us estimate your gardening schedule is the 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 making a decision about when to plant nierembergia is to look at the USDA zone info for Alcoa.

Planting Calendar for Nierembergia

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

You can not plant nierembergia until after the last frost because they do not do well in cold weather.

The earliest that you can plant nierembergia in Alcoa 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 nierembergia and expect a good harvest is probably August. Any later than that and your nierembergia may not have a chance to grow to maturity. If you are starting your nierembergia indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost when the weather gets warmer is on April 15 in Alcoa. It might get as low as 0°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Alcoa is an average the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Alcoa it frosts late in the year after April 15 so be sure to be ready to cover your nierembergia if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Alcoa

Here is the info for USDA Zone 7a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	0°F
Highest Expected Low	5°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 0°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 5°F.

Plants to Grow in Alcoa

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