One of the first steps you take when you are getting a good idea 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.

The USDA zone info for Arlington can be looked at to determine when it's possible to plant fennel.

Planting Calendar for Fennel

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

Fennel are very cold tolerant which tells us that you can get them planted much earlier than more sensitive plants.

The earliest that you can plant fennel in Arlington 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 fennel and expect a good harvest is probably September. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your fennel may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your fennel indoors.

Last Frost Date

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

Since the USDA zone info for Arlington is just an average the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Arlington you get surprised by a frost after March 15 so just be sure to be ready to protect your fennel if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Arlington

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 Arlington

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