One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us determine 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 figuring out when it's a good idea to plant cerastium is to examine the USDA zone info for Athens.

Planting Calendar for Cerastium

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

Cerastium are moderately cold tolerant which tells us that you can plant them earlier than other plants that might not handle the cold.

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

Last Frost Date

In Athens the average date of last frost happens on April 15. It might get as low as 0°F during the coldest months of winter.

It's important to remember that USDA zone info for Athens is not always accurate and the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Athens last frost occurs after April 15 so make sure that you are ready to protect your cerastium in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Athens

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 Athens

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