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 referring to the USDA zone info for Gardendale you should be able to figure out when it's a good idea to plant cosmos.

Planting Calendar for Cosmos

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

Cosmos tend to make it in mild 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 cosmos in Gardendale 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 cosmos and expect a good harvest is probably August. Any later than that and your cosmos may not have a chance to fully mature. You can get started a couple of weeks earlier by starting your cosmos indoors.

Last Frost Date

The average date of last frost is April 15 in Gardendale. In the coldest months of winter you should expect an average low temperature of 5°F.

Since the USDA zone info for Gardendale is not always accurate the actual date of last frost can change quite a bit from year to year. Half of the time in Gardendale you get surprised by a frost after April 15 so just be sure to be ready to protect your cosmos if you have a surprise late frost.

USDA Zone Info for Gardendale

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 Gardendale

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