Before planting it is a good idea to find your USDA Zone info to determine your garden schedule. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

The earliest that you can plant cleome in Zone 8a can be determined by looking at the USDA zone info.

Planting Calendar for Cleome

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

Since cleome require warm weather you have to wait until after the last frost before you can plant them.

The earliest that you can plant cleome in Zone 8a 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 cleome and expect a good harvest is probably August. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your cleome may not have a chance to grow to maturity. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your cleome indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is March 15 in Zone 8a. It might get as low as 10°F during the coldest months of winter.

Keep in mind that USDA zone info for Zone 8a may not be accurate from year to year and the actual date of last frost is different every year. Since half of the time in Zone 8a it frosts late in the year after March 15 be ready to cover your cleome if you have a surprise 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 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 Zone 8a

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