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

A common way of estimating when it's a good idea to plant calliopsis is to use the USDA zone info for Alice.

Planting Calendar for Calliopsis

Frost tolerance for calliopsis:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After the last frost has passed.

Calliopsis do not do well in cold weather which tells us that it is important to wait until it warms up after the last frost before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant calliopsis in Alice is March. However, you really should wait until April if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant calliopsis and expect a good harvest is probably September. Any later than that and your calliopsis may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your calliopsis indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average all chance of frost has passed is on February 15 in Alice. You can expect an average low temperature of 25°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Alice is an average the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Alice it frosts late in the year after February 15 so always be ready to protect your calliopsis if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Alice

Here is the info for USDA Zone 9b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	February 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	December 15
Lowest Expected Low	25°F
Highest Expected Low	30°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 25°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 30°F.

Plants to Grow in Alice

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