One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us determine 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.

A way of estimating when it's a good idea to plant lavender cotton is to consult the USDA zone info for Hempstead.

Planting Calendar for Lavender Cotton

Frost tolerance for lavender cotton:	Very tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	Up to 7 weeks before last frost.

Lavender Cotton are very cold tolerant which means that you can plant them a quite a bit earlier than more sensitive plants.

The earliest that you can plant lavender cotton in Hempstead 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 lavender cotton and expect a good harvest is probably October. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your lavender cotton may not have a chance to fully mature. If you are starting your lavender cotton indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost when the weather gets warmer is on February 15 in Hempstead. It might get as low as 20°F during the coldest months of winter.

Remember that the actual date of last frost is just an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Hempstead and it changes from year to year. Half of the time in Hempstead you get a frost after February 15 so make sure that you are prepared to cover your lavender cotton in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Hempstead

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 Hempstead

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