One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us determine your gardening schedule is the USDA zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

A way of estimating when it's possible to plant alyssum is to look at the USDA zone info for Hartford.

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 a lot earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant alyssum in Hartford 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 alyssum and expect a good harvest is probably September. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your alyssum may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your alyssum indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost when the weather gets warmer is on April 15 in Hartford. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of -20°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Hartford is not always accurate the actual date of last frost changes from year to year. Half of the time in Hartford you get surprised by a frost after April 15 so always be ready to protect your alyssum if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Hartford

Here is the info for USDA Zone 5a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-20°F
Highest Expected Low	-15°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -20°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -15°F.

Plants to Grow in Hartford

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