The USDA Zone info is a great tool for gardeners to help us determine your gardening schedule. 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 a good idea to plant cleome is to check out the USDA zone info for Smithville.

Planting Calendar for Cleome

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

Cleome are not cold tolerant which tells us that it's necessary to wait until it warms up after the last frost has passed before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant cleome in Smithville 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 cleome and expect a good harvest is probably August. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your cleome may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your cleome indoors.

Last Frost Date

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

Since the USDA zone info for Smithville is not always accurate the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Smithville you get a frost after March 15 be ready to cover your cleome if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Smithville

Here is the info for USDA Zone 8b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	March 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	November 15
Lowest Expected Low	15°F
Highest Expected Low	20°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 15°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 20°F.

Plants to Grow in Smithville

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