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 common way of getting a good idea when it's possible to plant alyssum is to check out the USDA zone info for Montpelier.

Planting Calendar for Alyssum

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

Since alyssum do well in cold you can plant them quite a bit earlier in the year than other plants that might not handle the cold.

The earliest that you can plant alyssum in Montpelier 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 alyssum and expect a good harvest is probably August. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your alyssum may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your alyssum indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost has passed is on May 15 in Montpelier. You can expect an average low temperature of -25°F in the coldest months of winter.

Keep in mind that USDA zone info for Montpelier is an average and the actual date of last frost is different every year. Since half of the time in Montpelier you get a frost after May 15 be ready to cover your alyssum if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Montpelier

Here is the info for USDA Zone 4b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	May 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	September 15
Lowest Expected Low	-25°F
Highest Expected Low	-20°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -25°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -20°F.

Plants to Grow in Montpelier

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