One of the first steps you take when you are determining your gardening schedule is find your USDA Zone info. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

The USDA zone info for Virginia Beach can be reviewed to figure out when it's a good idea to plant jerusalem artichokes.

Planting Calendar for Jerusalem artichokes

Frost tolerance for jerusalem artichokes:	Tolerant of some frost.
When to plant:	Up to 5 weeks before last frost.

Since jerusalem artichokes are one of those plants that can tolerate a little bit of cold weather you can plant them a little bit earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant jerusalem artichokes in Virginia Beach is February. However, you really should wait until March if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant jerusalem artichokes and expect a good harvest is probably September. If you wait any later than that and your jerusalem artichokes may not have a chance to grow to maturity. Starting your jerusalem artichokes indoors is a great way to get them started a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average all chance of frost has passed is on March 15 in Virginia Beach. You should expect an average low temperature of 10°F in the coldest months of winter.

It's important to remember that USDA zone info for Virginia Beach is just an average and the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in Virginia Beach last frost occurs after March 15 be ready to cover your jerusalem artichokes if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Virginia Beach

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 Virginia Beach

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Virginia Beach.