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.

One way of figuring out when it's the best time to plant coleus is to look at the USDA zone info for Mansfield.

Planting Calendar for Coleus

Frost tolerance for coleus:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After all chance of frost has passed.

Since coleus require warm weather you really should wait until after the last frost before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant coleus in Mansfield 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 coleus and expect a good harvest is probably August. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your coleus may not have a chance to grow to maturity. Starting your coleus indoors is a great way to get them started a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is March 15 in Mansfield. It might get as low as 10°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Mansfield may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost is different every year. Since half of the time in Mansfield it frosts late in the year after March 15 be ready to cover your coleus in the event of one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Mansfield

Here is the info for USDA Zone 8a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	March 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	November 15
Lowest Expected Low	10°F
Highest Expected Low	15°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 10°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 15°F.

Plants to Grow in Mansfield

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