One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us determine your gardening schedule is the 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.

In Federal Way you can figure out when it's the best time to plant verbena by referring to the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Verbena

Frost tolerance for verbena:	Tolerant of a very small amount of frost.
When to plant:	Up to 3 weeks before last frost.

You can plant verbena a bit earlier in the year because they are one of those plants that can tolerate a tiny bit of cold weather.

The earliest that you can plant verbena in Federal Way 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 verbena and expect a good harvest is probably August. Any later than that and your verbena may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a few weeks earlier by starting your verbena indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost has passed is on March 15 in Federal Way. It might get as low as 15°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Federal Way is just an average the actual date of last frost will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in Federal Way last frost occurs after March 15 be ready to cover your verbena if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Federal Way

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 Federal Way

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Federal Way.