One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us figure out your gardening schedule is the USDA zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

By checking out the USDA zone info for Austin you will be able to figure out when to plant tithonia.

Planting Calendar for Tithonia

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

Tithonia do not do well in cold weather which means that it's necessary to wait until it warms up after the last frost before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant tithonia 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 tithonia and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your tithonia may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your tithonia indoors.

Last Frost Date

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

Just be sure to 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 can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Austin you get surprised by a frost after March 15 so always be ready to protect your tithonia 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.