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.

A way of estimating when it's a good idea to plant maltese cross is to check out the USDA zone info for Cleveland.

Planting Calendar for Maltese Cross

Frost tolerance for maltese cross:	Tolerant of some frost.
When to plant:	Up to 5 weeks before last frost.

Since maltese cross do well in moderate cold you can plant them a little earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant maltese cross in Cleveland is January. However, you really should wait until February if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant maltese cross and expect a good harvest is probably October. If you wait any later than that and your maltese cross may not have a chance to really do well. If you are starting your maltese cross indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

In Cleveland the average date of last frost happens on February 15. You can expect an average low temperature of 20°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Cleveland is not always accurate the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in Cleveland you get a frost after February 15 be ready to cover your maltese cross in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Cleveland

Here is the info for USDA Zone 9a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	February 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	December 15
Lowest Expected Low	20°F
Highest Expected Low	25°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 20°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 25°F.

Plants to Grow in Cleveland

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