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.

By referring to the USDA zone info for Mount Vernon it's possible to determine when you can plant diascia.

Planting Calendar for Diascia

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

Diascia are moderately cold tolerant which tells us that you can plant them earlier than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

The earliest that you can plant diascia in Mount Vernon 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 diascia and expect a good harvest is probably September. If you wait any later than that and your diascia may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your diascia indoors.

Last Frost Date

In Mount Vernon the average date of last frost happens on March 15. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of 10°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Mount Vernon is an average the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Mount Vernon last frost occurs after March 15 be ready to cover your diascia if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Mount Vernon

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 Mount Vernon

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Mount Vernon.