One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us estimate 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 common way of estimating when it's a good idea to plant skullcap is to refer to the USDA zone info for Charles Town.

Planting Calendar for Skullcap

Frost tolerance for skullcap:	Not tolerant of frost.
When to plant:	After all chance of frost has passed.

It's not a good idea to plant skullcap until after the last frost because they do not do well in cold weather.

The earliest that you can plant skullcap in Charles Town 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 skullcap and expect a good harvest is probably August. If you wait any later than that and your skullcap may not have a chance to grow to maturity. If you are starting your skullcap indoors then you might be able to get away with starting them a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

On average all chance of frost has passed is on April 15 in Charles Town. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of -5°F.

Remember that the actual date of last frost may not be accurate from year to year because it is based on the USDA zone info for Charles Town and it can change quite a bit from year to year. Since half of the time in Charles Town you get a frost after April 15 be ready to protect your skullcap in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Charles Town

Here is the info for USDA Zone 6b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-5°F
Highest Expected Low	0°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -5°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 0°F.

Plants to Grow in Charles Town

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Charles Town.