One of the first steps you take when you are figuring out 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.

A common way of determining when you can plant alyssum is to consult the USDA zone info for Alvin.

Planting Calendar for Alyssum

Frost tolerance for alyssum:	Very tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	Up to 7 weeks before last frost.

Since alyssum are one of those plants that can tolerate quite a bit of cold weather you can plant them quite a bit earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant alyssum in Alvin is January. However, you really should wait until February if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant alyssum and expect a good harvest is probably October. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your alyssum may not have a chance to grow to maturity. If you are starting your alyssum indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

In Alvin the average date of last frost happens on February 15. You should expect an average low temperature of 20°F in the coldest months of winter.

Always keep in mind that USDA zone info for Alvin is an average and the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Alvin there is a last frost after February 15 be ready to cover your alyssum in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Alvin

Here is the info for USDA Zone 9a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	February 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	December 15
Lowest Expected Low	20°F
Highest Expected Low	25°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 20°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 25°F.

Plants to Grow in Alvin

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