One of the first steps you take when you are estimating 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.

The USDA zone info for Richmond can be read to figure out when it's possible to plant skullcap.

Planting Calendar for Skullcap

Frost tolerance for skullcap:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After the last frost.

It's not a good idea to plant skullcap until after all chance of frost has passed because they do not do well in cold weather.

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

Last Frost Date

On average all chance of frost has passed is on February 15 in Richmond. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of 20°F.

Keep in mind that the actual date of last frost is an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Richmond and it changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Richmond you get a frost after February 15 be ready to protect your skullcap 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.