One of the first steps you take when you are making a decision about 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.

In Abilene you can estimate when it's the best time to plant diascia by looking at the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Diascia

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

Diascia do well in moderate cold which means that you can plant them a little bit earlier than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant diascia in Abilene 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 diascia and expect a good harvest is probably September. If you wait any later than that and your diascia may not have a chance to really do well. Starting your diascia indoors is a great way to get them started a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost is on March 15 in Abilene. It might get as low as 10°F during the coldest months of winter.

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 Abilene and it is different every year. Half of the time in Abilene there is a last frost after March 15 so just be sure to be ready to cover your diascia if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Abilene

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 Abilene

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