One of the first steps you take when you are making a decision about 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 Oak Harbor you can figure out when it's the best time to plant alternanthera by using the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Alternanthera

Frost tolerance for alternanthera:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After the last frost when the weather gets warmer.

Since alternanthera are not cold tolerant you have to wait until after all chance of frost has passed before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant alternanthera in Oak Harbor is April. However, you really should wait until May if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant alternanthera and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your alternanthera may not have a chance to fully mature. If you are starting your alternanthera indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost is on March 15 in Oak Harbor. You can expect an average low temperature of 15°F in the coldest months of winter.

Since the USDA zone info for Oak Harbor is an average the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Since half of the time in Oak Harbor last frost occurs after March 15 be ready to protect your alternanthera in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Oak Harbor

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 Oak Harbor

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Oak Harbor.