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.

A way of estimating when it's a good idea to plant torenia is to examine the USDA zone info for Alvin.

Planting Calendar for Torenia

Frost tolerance for torenia:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After the last frost when the weather gets warmer.

It's not a good idea to plant torenia until after the last frost has passed because they are not cold tolerant.

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

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost when the weather gets warmer is on February 15 in Alvin. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of 20°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Alvin is an average the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Alvin you get surprised by a frost after February 15 so just be sure to be ready to cover your torenia in the event of one of those late frosts.

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.