One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us figure out 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.

In Orange you can estimate when it's a good idea to plant heliotrope by looking at the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Heliotrope

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

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

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

Last Frost Date

In Orange the average date of last frost happens on April 15. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of 0°F.

Keep in mind that the actual date of last frost is an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Orange and it can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Orange it frosts late in the year after April 15 so make sure that you are prepared to cover your heliotrope if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Orange

Here is the info for USDA Zone 7a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	0°F
Highest Expected Low	5°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 0°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 5°F.

Plants to Grow in Orange

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