When to Plant Anchusa in Zone 8a

One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us figure out 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.

One way of determining when to plant anchusa is to check out the USDA zone info for Zone 8a.


Planting Calendar for Anchusa

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

Anchusa are one of those plants that can tolerate quite a bit of cold weather which tells us that you can plant them a quite a bit earlier than other frost tender plants.

JanFebMarAprMayJunJulAugSepOctNovDec
Legend 
A good time to plant anchusa
Possibly ok, but a risky time to plant anchusa
Probably not a good time to plant anchusa

The earliest that you can plant anchusa in Zone 8a 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 anchusa and expect a good harvest is probably September. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your anchusa may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your anchusa indoors.

Last Frost Date

On average the last frost is on March 15 in Zone 8a. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of 10°F.

It's important to 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 Zone 8a and it is different every year. Since half of the time in Zone 8a last frost occurs after March 15 be ready to protect your anchusa in the event of a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Zone 8a

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 Low10°F
Highest Expected Low15°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 Zone 8a

You may be interested in your other planting guides for Zone 8a.