One of the first steps you take when you are determining 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.

In Austin you can determine when to plant lithospermum by looking at the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Lithospermum

Frost tolerance for lithospermum:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After the last frost has passed.

Since lithospermum are not cold tolerant you need to wait until after the last frost before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant lithospermum 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 lithospermum and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your lithospermum may not have a chance to fully mature. If you are starting your lithospermum indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a few weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

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

Remember that the actual date of last frost is not always accurate because it is based on the USDA zone info for Austin and it changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Austin it frosts late in the year after March 15 be ready to cover your lithospermum in the event of 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.