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

By checking out the USDA zone info for Hartford you will be able to figure out when it's the best time to plant gaillardia.

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.

Gaillardia are barely cold tolerant which tells us that you can start planting them slightly earlier than other plants that might not handle the cold.

The earliest that you can plant gaillardia in Hartford 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. Any later than that and your gaillardia may not have a chance to fully mature. If you are starting your gaillardia 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 Hartford. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of -20°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Hartford may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost is different every year. Since half of the time in Hartford you get surprised by a frost after April 15 be ready to cover your gaillardia in the event of a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Hartford

Here is the info for USDA Zone 5a.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	-20°F
Highest Expected Low	-15°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -20°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -15°F.

Plants to Grow in Hartford

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