Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to determine your garden schedule. 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 Austin should be reffered to in order to figure out when it's the best time to plant four o' clock.

Planting Calendar for Four O' Clock

Frost tolerance for four o' clock:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After the last frost has passed.

Since four o' clock are not cold tolerant you have to wait until after all chance of frost has passed before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant four o' clock in Austin 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 four o' clock and expect a good harvest is probably August. Any later than that and your four o' clock may not have a chance to fully mature. If you are starting your four o' clock indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost has passed is on March 15 in Austin. It might get as low as 15°F during the coldest months of winter.

Remember that USDA zone info for Austin is an average and the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Austin you get a frost after March 15 be ready to protect your four o' clock if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Austin

Here is the info for USDA Zone 8b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	March 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	November 15
Lowest Expected Low	15°F
Highest Expected Low	20°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 15°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 20°F.

Plants to Grow in Austin

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