One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us estimate your gardening schedule is the 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 way of figuring out when it's a good idea to plant geranium is to check out the USDA zone info for Athens.

Planting Calendar for Geranium

Frost tolerance for geranium:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After all chance of frost has passed.

Geranium are not cold tolerant which tells us that you must wait until it warms up after the last frost has passed before you can plant them.

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

The last month that you can plant geranium and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your geranium may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your geranium indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is March 15 in Athens. You can expect an average low temperature of 10°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Athens may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Athens it frosts late in the year after March 15 so make sure that you are prepared to protect your geranium if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Athens

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 Athens

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