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.

One way of determining when it's a good idea to plant anise is to use the USDA zone info for Houston.

Planting Calendar for Anise

Frost tolerance for anise:	Tolerant of a very small amount of frost.
When to plant:	Up to 3 weeks before last frost.

Anise are one of those plants that can tolerate a tiny bit of cold weather which means that you can start planting them slightly earlier than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant anise in Houston is February. However, you really should wait until March if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant anise and expect a good harvest is probably September. If you wait any later than that and your anise may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your anise indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is February 15 in Houston. It might get as low as 20°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Houston is just an average the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Houston it frosts late in the year after February 15 so be sure to be ready to protect your anise in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Houston

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 Houston

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