One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us estimate 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 making a decision about when to plant painted tongues is to check out the USDA zone info for La Porte.

Planting Calendar for Painted Tongues

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

It's a bad idea to plant painted tongues until after the last frost has passed because they do not do well in cold weather.

The earliest that you can plant painted tongues in La Porte is March. However, you really should wait until April if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant painted tongues and expect a good harvest is probably September. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your painted tongues may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your painted tongues indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is February 15 in La Porte. You should expect an average low temperature of 20°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for La Porte is not always accurate the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Half of the time in La Porte it frosts late in the year after February 15 so just be sure to be ready to protect your painted tongues if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for La Porte

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 La Porte

You may be interested in your other planting guides for La Porte.