Month by month
Planting calendars by zone and city
A calendar is only useful if it is local. These eight start with the frost dates and the rainfall rhythm, then list what to sow, plant out and tend each month. Dates are typical, not a guarantee.
Sixteen climate-defined regions
Zone 7
Zone 7 runs from the mid-Atlantic to the southern Plains: a last frost around mid-April, a first frost around mid-October, and roughly 180–200 frost-free days. The calendar below is a typical year; move each row a week or two to fit your local normals.
Zone 8b
Zone 8b covers the Gulf Coast fringe, central Texas and the mild Pacific Northwest lowlands: a last frost in March, a first frost in November, and a long warm season with a short winter. The split season matters more than any single date.
Melbourne
Melbourne is zone 10 with a cool, changeable summer; frost is rare and light, and the autumn break in March is the real start of the garden year. The calendar is inverted against Europe: plant trees and bulbs in autumn, protect them from heat in January.
London
London is zone 9 with mild winters and a long, cool growing season; the last frost is usually in April and the first in November. The limit is light and wet soil rather than cold, so autumn planting and raised beds pay off.
Austin
Austin sits on the 8b/9a line with a hot, dry summer and a short winter. The reliable windows are March–May and September–November; midsummer is for watering, mulching and harvesting heat crops, not for planting.
Sydney
Sydney is zone 10–11 with mild winters and no reliable frost near the coast; the garden year starts in autumn and again in September. Summer heat and humidity, not cold, decide what survives.
Denver
Denver is zone 5–6 at about 1,600 m: a short, intense season between a mid-May last frost and a late-September first frost. Late snow, hail and dry wind are the local hazards, so row cover and windbreaks earn their place.
Atlanta
Atlanta is zone 8a with a long, hot summer and a mild winter; the last frost is late March and the first is early November. Spring and autumn are the planting windows, and July is for watering and mulching.
How to use a region page
Start with the climate plate: frost risk at the top, growth dots in the middle, rainfall bars at the bottom. Read the four-season table next, then the constraints — those are the conditions that decide which plants fail. The palette is a working list, not a flora; the sources at the foot of each page are the check.