One of the first steps you take when you are getting a good idea 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 determining when it's the best time to plant dracaena is to examine the USDA zone info for Richmond.

Planting Calendar for Dracaena

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

Since dracaena are very cold tolerant you can plant them earlier in the year than other plants that might not handle the cold.

The earliest that you can plant dracaena in Richmond 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 dracaena and expect a good harvest is probably October. Any later than that and your dracaena may not have a chance to fully mature. Starting your dracaena indoors is a great way to get them started a little bit earlier.

Last Frost Date

In Richmond the average date of last frost happens on February 15. It might get as low as 20°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Richmond is an average the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in Richmond last frost occurs after February 15 be ready to protect your dracaena in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Richmond

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 Richmond

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