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.

The USDA zone info for Clay can be looked at to figure out when to plant echinacea.

Planting Calendar for Echinacea

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

Since echinacea are barely cold tolerant you can plant them slightly earlier in the year than other frost tender plants.

The earliest that you can plant echinacea in Clay 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 echinacea and expect a good harvest is probably August. Any later than that and your echinacea may not have a chance to fully mature. Starting your echinacea indoors is a great way to get them started a couple of weeks earlier.

Last Frost Date

In Clay the average date of last frost happens on April 15. It might get as low as 5°F during the coldest months of winter.

It's important to remember that the actual date of last frost is not always accurate because it is based on the USDA zone info for Clay and it will vary from year to year. Since half of the time in Clay you get surprised by a frost after April 15 be ready to cover your echinacea if you have a late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Clay

Here is the info for USDA Zone 7b.

Average Date of Last Frost (spring)	April 15
Average Date of First Frost (fall)	October 15
Lowest Expected Low	5°F
Highest Expected Low	10°F

This means that on a really cold year, the coldest it will get is 5°F. On most years you should be prepared to experience lows near 10°F.

Plants to Grow in Clay

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