One of the first steps you take when you are getting a good idea your gardening schedule is find your USDA Zone info. The zone info helps tell us things like average date of last frost and lowest expected temperature for your area.

It's possible to determine when it's a good idea to plant gazania by looking at the USDA zone info for Sparta.

Planting Calendar for Gazania

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

Gazania do well in very little cold which means that you can plant them slightly earlier in the year than plants that are more sensitive to the cold.

The earliest that you can plant gazania in Sparta 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 gazania and expect a good harvest is probably August. You probably don't want to wait any later than that or else your gazania may not have a chance to grow to maturity. Starting your gazania indoors is a great way to get them started a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

In Sparta the average date of last frost happens on May 15. In the coldest months of winter you can expect an average low temperature of -25°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Sparta may not be accurate from year to year the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Sparta you get surprised by a frost after May 15 so be sure to be ready to cover your gazania if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Sparta

Here is the info for USDA Zone 4b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	May 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	September 15
Lowest Expected Low	-25°F
Highest Expected Low	-20°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is -25°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near -20°F.

Plants to Grow in Sparta

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