One of the first steps you take when you are estimating 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.

In Lake Stevens you can determine when it's a good idea to plant thyme by referring to the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Thyme

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

Thyme do well in cold weather which means that you can plant them earlier in the year than other plants that might not handle the cold.

The earliest that you can plant thyme in Lake Stevens 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 thyme and expect a good harvest is probably September. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your thyme may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your thyme indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is March 15 in Lake Stevens. It might get as low as 15°F during the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Lake Stevens may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Lake Stevens you get a frost after March 15 so always be ready to protect your thyme if you have one of those late frosts.

USDA Zone Info for Lake Stevens

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 Lake Stevens

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Lake Stevens.