When to Plant Gaillardia in Washington, IA

One of the best tools that you have as gardeners to help us estimate your gardening schedule is the USDA zone info. The most important data that the zone info tells us is average last frost and the lowest expected temperature for your area.

A common way of determining when it's a good idea to plant gaillardia is to examine the USDA zone info for Washington.

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Planting Calendar for Gaillardia

Frost tolerance for gaillardia: Tolerant of a very small amount of frost.
When to plant: Up to 3 weeks before last frost.

Since gaillardia are barely cold tolerant you can plant them just a tiny bit earlier in the year than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

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

The earliest that you can plant gaillardia in Washington is March. However, you really should wait until April if you don't want to take any chances.

The last month that you can plant gaillardia and expect a good harvest is probably August. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your gaillardia may not have a chance to really do well. You can get started a little bit earlier by starting your gaillardia indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Washington. You should expect an average low temperature of -15°F in the coldest months of winter.

Just be sure to remember that the actual date of last frost is just an average because it is based on the USDA zone info for Washington and it will vary from year to year. Half of the time in Washington there is a last frost after April 15 so just be sure to be ready to cover your gaillardia if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Washington

Here is the info for USDA Zone 5b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)October 15
Lowest Expected Low-15°F
Highest Expected Low-10°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -15°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -10°F.

Plants to Grow in Washington

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